ESCAPING
THE WITCH HUNT
FROM TURKEY & AROUND THE WORLD
[The Right to Leave]
April 2018
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Published in April 2018
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3
ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS
Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi [Justice and Development Party]
Union of Turkish-Islamic cultural organizations in Austria
The British Broadcasting Corporation
Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
Commission for the Control of Interpol’s Files
(uman Rights Committee
Closed-Circuit Television
Republican People›s Party
Council of Europe
International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and
Members of Their Families
CRPD
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
ÇHD
Progressive Lawyers’ Association
DBP
Demokratik Bölgeler Partisi [Democratic Regions Party]
Diyanet
Turkey’s Directorate of Religious Affairs
DİTİB
Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs (Germany)
ECHR
European Convention on Human Rights
ECtHR
European Court of Human Rights
EU
European Union
HDP
(alkların Demokratik Partisi [Peoples› Democratic Party]
HCJP
High Council for Judges and Prosecutors
OHAL
Olağan“st“ (al – State of Emergency
OHCHR
Office of the (igh Commissioner for (uman Rights
JWF
The Journalists and Writers Foundation
ICCPR
International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights
IDPs
Internally Displaced Persons
INTERPOL International Criminal Police Organization
KHK
Kanun (ukmunde Kararname [Decrees with Force of Law]
MASAK
Financial Crimes Investigation Board of Turkey
MİT
National Intelligence Organization of Turkey
MP(s)
Member(s) of Parliament
NCEQE
National Center for Education Quality Enhancement
NGO
Non-governmental organization
NRW
North Rhine-Westphalia
PACE
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
SCF
Stockholm Center for Freedom
TİKA
Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency
TRY
Turkish Lira
TSK
Turk Silahlı Kuvvetleri [Turkish Armed Forces]
TURKAK
Turkish Accreditation Agency
TUSKON
Turkish Confederation of Businessmen and Industrialists
UDHR
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
UN
United Nations
UNHCR
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
WGEID
Working Group on Enforced Disappearances
AKP
ATIB
BBC
CAT
CCF
CCPR
CCTV
CHP
CoE
CMW
4
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS ....................................................................................................... 4
TABLE OF CONTENTS
.............................................................................................................................. 5
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
............................................................................................................................ 7
Part I - INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................ 10
A. Background ................................................................................................................................................ 10
B. Scope of the report
............................................................................................................................... 13
C. Structure of the report
......................................................................................................................... 15
Part II – THE RIGHT TO LEAVE ONE’S OWN COUNTRY...................................................... 16
A. The right to non-discrimination ..................................................................................................... 19
B. The obligation of a state to issue passports ............................................................................. 19
C. Asylum seekers leaving Turkey with fraudulent documents .......................................... 20
PART III – THE RIGHT TO LEAVE THE COUNTRY OF RESIDENCE............................... 22
PART IV - THE RIGHT TO SEEK AND ENJOY PROTECTION/ASYLUM ....................... 23
A. Council of Europe guarantees ......................................................................................................... 26
B. European Union guarantees ............................................................................................................ 27
PART V - THE WITCH-HUNT IN TURKEY ................................................................................... 27
A. Resmi Gazete or “Turkey’s purge lists”....................................................................................... 27
B. Dismissals of public officials ........................................................................................................... 28
C. Cancellation and non-issuing of passports .............................................................................. 29
D. Severe political repression............................................................................................................... 32
E. )nflammatory rhetoric and hate speech targeting the (izmet Movement...................... 34
F. Stigmatization and discrimination................................................................................................. 35
G. Deliberate deprivation of resources needed for physical survival.............................. 36
H. Imposition of life-threatening forcible deportation and segregation........................ 36
I. Fear and betrayal in a police state .................................................................................................. 37
J. Humiliation and terror against marginalized groups .......................................................... 39
K. Treatment of the disabled, elderly and sick ............................................................................ 39
L. Arbitrary detention and arrest ....................................................................................................... 40
M. Enforced disappearances................................................................................................................. 41
N. Torture and ill-treatment ................................................................................................................. 42
5
O. Impunity for serious violations of international
human rights law and atrocity crimes ...................................................................................... 44
P. Reinstatement of the death penalty ............................................................................................. 45
Q. Lack of legal remedies ........................................................................................................................ 46
R. Foreign citizens in custody or at risk of deprivation of liberty...................................... 49
PART VI - THE WITCH-HUNT OF TURKISH NATIONALS ABROAD.............................. 50
A. Turkish schools and teachers abroad ......................................................................................... 51
B. Diyanet network...................................................................................................................................... 54
C. Abuse of INTERPOL systems............................................................................................................ 56
D. Arbitrary deprivation of nationality and denial of consular services......................... 57
E. Detentions, abductions and expulsions...................................................................................... 58
1. Afghanistan............................................................................................................................................... 59
2. Albania, 3. Angola................................................................................................................................... 60
4. Austria, 5. Azerbaijan, 6. Belgium,................................................................................................. 61
7. Bulgaria 8. China,................................................................................................................................... 62
9. Gabon 10. Georgia................................................................................................................................. 63
11. Germany, 12. Greece, 13. Indonesia........................................................................................... 64
14.1 Kazakhstan1, 14.2 Kazakhstan2............................................................................................... 65
15.1 Kosovo 1,............................................................................................................................................... 66
15.2 Kosovo 2, 16. Madagascar,................................................................................................. .......... 67
17. Malaysia.................................................................................................................................................... 68
18. Morocco,................................................................................................................................................... 69
19. Myanmar & Thailand, 20. Netherlands.................................................................................... 70
21. Pakistan,.................................................................................................................................................. 72
22. Romania, 23. Saudi Arabia,............................................................................................................. 73
24. Spain, 25. State of Qatar,................................................................................................................... 74
26. The Sudan,............................................................................................................................................... 75
27. Switzerland 28. Ukraine, 29. United Arab Emirates and FYR Macedonia. ............. 76
PART VII - CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS........................................................ 76
PART VIII - ANNEXES............................................................................................................................... 78
ANNEX – )nterviews with )ndividuals in Exile
.................................................................
ANNEX – )ndividuals Deprived of Nationality and
78
Denied Counselor Services.................................................................................................................... . 85
ANNEX – List of Cross-border )ncidents Data Excel Sheet
............................................. 86
ANNEX – Abductions, Detentions, Arrests, and Deportations ........................................ 92
6
Left: Maden family who drowned in the Aegean Sea; Right: Abdurrezzak family who drowned
in the Meric Evros river while escaping the witch hunt in Turkey.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
T
he present report discusses the right to
freedom of movement, with a particular
focus on the right of Turkish citizens,
dual citizens and also foreigners—to leave
Turkey in the aftermath of the attempted coup
of July 15, 2016. It outlines the plausibility of a
claim that continuing human rights violations
by the government of Turkey have now turned
the country into an open-air prison for many,
regardless of whether or not individuals are
formally deprived of their liberty.
Being denied any future in Turkey and facing, inter alia, arbitrary detention, no prospect
of a fair trial, unemployability and persecution,
an increasing number of civil servants, teachers, professors, lawyers, journalists, judges,
police officers, military personnel and other
professionals at risk, are trying to leave the
country and ask for international protection.
The right to leave the country, whether
one’s own country or the country of residence,
is firmly embodied in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and the relevant
United Nations (UN) human rights treaties,
which have been accepted and come into force
in the Republic of Turkey. The enjoyment of the
right to leave the country is not only an isolated right. It is rightly considered as a necessary
prerequisite for the enjoyment of a number of
other human rights, notably the right to international protection from torture, inhuman or
degrading treatment or punishment.
The enjoyment of the right to leave the
country is not in itself an absolute right. Restrictions of the right to leave a country can
be imposed through formal legal acts, if and
as these restrictions are justified and in accordance with the International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR)
and also the interpretation of the European
Court for Human Rights (ECtHR) and the UN
treaty bodies, either through their case law or
through relevant General Comments. Restrictions to this right must be sanctioned by law
and be “necessary to protect national security,
public order, public health or morals or the
rights and freedoms of others.” In any case,
restrictions “must not nullify the principle of
liberty of movement and are governed by the
need for consistency with the other rights recognized in the Covenant.”1
1
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Article 12
7
Highly critical issues relating to the enjoyment of the right to leave a country arise whenever restrictions target individuals who belong
or are perceived to belong to certain marginalized groups and whenever they are imposed in
a discriminatory manner and in the context of
crackdown on political and other dissent. Such
restrictions, in many cases designed on purpose and facilitated by the declaration of a state
of emergency, as in the case of Turkey, not only
have an adverse effect and create considerable
obstacles on the right to leave – they may prove
to be devastating deprivations of this right for
entire groups, communities and families.
The right to leave the country, whether one’s own country or the country of residence, is firmly embodied in the Universal Declaration of (uman Rights UD(R
and the relevant United Nations UN human rights treaties.
ASYLUM APPLICANTS FROM TURKEY TO EU AFTER THE FAILED COUP
Q3 2016
Q1 2017
Q4 2016
July
Aug
Sept
Oct
Nov
Dec
805
1180
1155
1270
1260
1070
Jan
Feb
Q2 2017
Mar
Q3 2017
Apr May June
1020 950 1015 850
930
885
3140
3600
2985
2665
Q3 2016
Q3 2017
Change in % bet
Q3 2016 & Q3
2017
Last 12 months
3140
4240
35% increase
13495
First-time Asylum Applicants in the EUSource: Eurostat (migr_asyappctzm)
by Turkish Citizens Q
July
Aug
1085 1505 1650
4240
–Q
1700
1275
850
Series1
425
0
First-time Asylum Applicants in the EU-
by Turkish Citizens Q
8
–Q
Sept
Immediately following the attempted coup
of July 15, 2016, in the third quarter of 2016
(July-September 2016) European Union member states recorded a more than three times
% increase in first-time applicants for
international protection2 from Turkey, compared with the same quarter of 2015.3
The number of first-time applicants for international protection in the European Union
member states overall decreased by 55% in the
third quarter of 2017 compared with the same
quarter of 2016. In contrast, the number of
asylum applicants increased in absolute terms
for citizens of Venezuela (1,500 more), Turkey (1,100 more)4 and Palestine (1,000 more).
There were ,
first-time applicants from
Turkey in the third quarter of 2017, or 35%
more compared with the same quarter of 2016.
By the end of 2017, the Greek Asylum Service revealed that 186 Turkish citizens had applied for asylum in
and noted a signifi5
cant” increase in 2017. According to recent
data from Greek officials analyzed by pro-government media in Turkey, it is estimated that
1,750 members or sympathizers of the Hizmet
Movement fled Turkey’s post-coup repression
in 2017 by crossing into Greece across the Evros river in Edirne province or via the islands
off Turkey’s western coastline.6 Many others
were not so fortunate; they were either detained by Turkish law enforcement or pushed
back to Turkey by their offical counterparts
in Greece. Several people perished trying to
flee the relentless persecution by which the
Turkish government is targeting the members
of the Hizmet Movement.
The Attempted Coup
In the late hours of July 15, 2016,7 a small
faction of the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) that
called themselves the “Peace at Home Council”
attempted a military coup by seizing control
of several key places in Ankara, Istanbul, and
other locations. According to official sources,
at least 246 people were killed and more than
2,000 were injured during the attempt.8
President Erdogan speaking to the crowds after
the failed coup attempt. Photo: Presidency
Press Service/AP
First time applicant for international protection is a person who lodged an application for asylum for the first time
in a given state
3
Asylum quarterly report, (Figure 3, Table 1), available from: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/6049358/7005580/Asylum+Quarterly+Report+-+Q3+2016.pdf/2ad7a4f9-495f-4480-9ed9-1d08a54b4611
4
Asylum quarterly report, Figure 2, Table 1, (December 12, 2017), available from: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/
statistics-explained/index.php/Asylum_quarterly_report
5
NPR, Turks Fleeing To Greece Find Mostly Warm Welcome, Despite (istory, December 27, 2017, available at: https://
www.npr.org/sections/parallels/
/ / /
/turks-fleeing-to-greece-find-mostly-warm-welcomedespite-history
6
As of December 21, 2017, available at: http://www.turkiyegazetesi.com.tr/gundem/529433.aspx
7
The events related to the attempted coup began at 7:29 p.m. in the evening of July 15, 2016
8
Committee against Torture, Concluding observations on the fourth periodic report of Turkey, Addendum Information received from Turkey on follow-up to the concluding observations (CAT/C/TUR/CO/4/Add.1), November 8,
2016, para 61
2
9
PART I
INTRODUCTION
Berlin Wall first phase / Patrice (abans/GETTY )mages
See also: http://www.berliner-mauer-gedenkstaette.de/en/todesopfer-
9
10
.html
Throughout the 20th century, heavy restrictions on the freedom of movement and
the right to leave the country have been common among totalitarian regimes practicing
persecution, arbitrary confinement and inhuman treatment and torture. The notorious
practices of former communist regimes have
been well documented. In the second decade
of the 21st century, many oppressive regimes
across the world continue to prevent their citizens from leaving the country. Many, however,
had rightly thought that given the experience
during the Cold War, this practice, which had
been a very important human rights issue for
decades, had once and for all left Europe. They
have been proven to be very wrong.
Decades after the fall of communist regimes
of the Eastern Bloc, we all bear witness to worrying developments regarding the freedom of
movement in Turkey, which in many ways replicate the policies and obstacles to movement
of people during the Cold War. Paradoxically,
the obstacles and restrictions are put in place
by one of the countries considered to have
been literally in the first lines of defense of
the so called “free world” against the oppressive communist regimes.
On the “other side of the fence” and to the
dismay of many, after the Cold War, countries
of the former free world – that were in the
past among the greatest critics of this practice
by communist regimes – have seen their liberal behavior towards asylum seekers vanish,
by introducing summary expulsions, or “pushbacks”10 to Turkey, without any individual conditions considered. Similar practices have also
been witnessed by countries that were once
under dreadful communist regimes. Collective expulsions are explicitly prohibited under
international law and also run contrary to the
EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, the Schengen Borders Code, EU asylum procedures and
return directives.
Turkey experienced a mass refugee influx
from Syria and Iraq after the Syrian civil war
started in 2011. The Turkish government adopted an open-door-policy towards Syrian
refugees and built refugee camps in its southeastern provinces. In addition to the refugee
camps, the Turkish government provided refugees with health and education services as
well as food aid facilities.11 Turkey has become
the country with the highest share of refugees
in the world by hosting more than 2.7 million Syrian refugees.12 )n
, the influx of
refugees and migrants to Europe reached new
levels and made the headlines and political
debates in Europe. In 2015 what was known
to be the main Mediterranean route for many
years shifted from Libya and Italy, to what
later proved to be an even deadlier crossing
from Turkey to Greek islands in the Aegean
Sea. Continuous tragedies along the new route
propelled the debate right at the center of the
European Union agenda, threatening seriously its cohesion, and even its future.
Seemingly under pressure from their own
constituencies, at a time of increasing populism, the 28 EU heads of state concluded in
March 2016 a deal with Turkey to address the
overwhelming flow of migrants and asylum
seekers crossing from Turkey to the Greek
islands. The agreement aimed at allowing
Greece to return to Turkey all new irregular
10
Push-backs happen when people are forcibly returned back to the country they are trying to leave shortly after
they enter a country’s territory or jurisdiction, without an opportunity to challenge their forced return
11
http://turkishpolicy.com/article/
/the-syrian-conflict-and-turkeys-humanitarian-response
12
UNHCR, “UN(CR country operations profile-Turkey: Overview, (2015), available at: http://www.unhcr.org/
pages/49e48e0fa7f.html
11
migrants arriving after March 20, 2016, in exchange of increased resettlement of Syrian refugees in EU Member States, visa liberalization
for Turkish nationals on condition of fulfilling
the so-called Copenhagen criteria, and more
financial support for Turkey’s refugee population.
The height of the refugee crisis and the
desperate need to implement the EU – Turkey
migrant deal overshadowed most of the other
critically pressing issues in Turkey, in particular the latter’s rapid descent into authoritarian rule and increasingly deteriorating human
rights record. In recent years, Turkey has experienced a sharp declining trend in almost
all democratic indicators, including civil, economic and social rights, freedom of expression
and media, free and fair elections, government
accountability and corruption. The coup attempt of July 15, 2016, only exacerbated the
already critical situation, paving the way to a
massive crackdown on human rights throughout the country.
Since the attempted coup, more than
146,713 individuals have been dismissed from
their jobs, 127,794 persons were taken into
custody and
,
people were arrested –
sometimes simply because they were followed
on Twitter by a whistleblower. Hundreds of
thousands of passports belonging to victims of
the purge and their family members were cancelled and unlawful restrictions imposed on
victims of the government’s ongoing purge and
their family members under the state of emergency. The rule of law and the independence
of the Judiciary has effectively been abolished.
The coup attempt of July ,
, aggravated an already critical situation, increasing the range and pace of the massive crackdown on human rights throughout Turkey. Amongst other steps, the government declared void the passports of thousands
of victims of the purge and their family members, and imposed unlawful restrictions on them under the state of emergency.
Detentions, arrests, and dismissals taking place in the aftermath of the failed coup in order to silence
the dissidents. / Photo: Turkey Purge
12
The relentless crackdown on dissent in the
country has forced thousands of Turkish citizens to live as internally displaced people and
in unemployment; i.e. to leave their usual place
of residence and relocate internally mainly to
ensure their anonymity and to continue living
in new communities without bearing the ‘terrorist’ label. Many have had to relocate several
times within the country, until a window of
opportunity would open for individuals under
increasing distress and risk of unlawful detention to try and flee the country.
Thousands of individuals are estimated to
have been able to escape the ongoing repres-
sion and seek refuge in neighboring and other
countries before stricter controls of the borders were introduced. Unfortunately, attempts
by victims of the purge to flee the extensive
crackdown are increasingly not successful
and, in some cases, have fatal consequences
for entire families.
)n the absence of accurate official data, it is
believed that the number of Turkish nationals
attempting to flee Turkey is slowly exceeding
the number of Syrian nationals attempting to
cross Turkey’s borders into the neighboring
countries.
Turkey purge victims arrested, detained, and jailed while attempting to flee Turkey.
B. Scope of the report
and Writers Foundation mainly based on an
The report aims to document and shed light analysis of the relevant international human
rights law and the domestic legal framework,
on the relentless persecution of an increasing
gathering of data from public sources, infornumber of Turkish nationals who are forced to
mation obtained from victims in the country
flee into exile. Mapping the magnitude of this
and abroad, their lawyers, activists on the
increasingly serious issue in a comprehensive ground and through monitoring open sources.
way has proven to be very difficult, given re- When considered appropriate, in a few cases
prisals on those investigating, gathering infor- the Journalists and Writers Foundation decidmation, reporting or speaking out against hu- ed not to reveal the identity of victims or the
man rights violations in Turkey.
sources, in order to protect individuals against
The report was drafted by the Journalists possible reprisals.
13
The report calls on the government of Turkey to fully comply with Turkey’s obligations under its domestic legal framework and relevant international law. )t also
calls on the international community, in particular all neighboring states, to adhere
to their domestic and international obligations, in accordance with the principle of
non-refoulement.
The report considers all aspects related to
the violation of the right to leave and refers to
the origins of this right when relevant; however, it focuses in particular on the current situation and the developments in Turkey since
the July 15, 2016, attempted coup.
The present report asserts that continuing
violations of basic human rights by the government of Turkey must not be overlooked,
in particular: extrajudicial killings, incitement
to commit murder and impunity for acts of
violence; imprisonment or other severe deprivation of physical liberty in violation of
fundamental rules of international law; torture and inhuman treatment; persecution of
identifiable groups or collectively based on
political, ethnic, or other grounds that are universally recognized as impermissible under
international law; enforced disappearance of
persons; and other inhumane acts of a similar character which are intentionally causing
great suffering, or serious injury to body or to
mental or physical health. All these violations
of rights are forcing an increasing number of
Turkish citizens from all walks of life to exercise their right to leave in order to seek international protection elsewhere.
A comprehensive analysis and any speculation on longer-term prospects and implications of the restrictions to the right to leave
Turkey or any other country is beyond the
scope of this report. The report, however, argues that ignoring the plight of millions of
Turkish citizens at risk grossly violates their
right to international protection and will prove
detrimental to the interests of justice and the
interests of entire communities and different
groups within Turkish society.
The present paper is dedicated to the memory of the members of Maden family (5) and
Abdurrezzak family (3) who lost their lives
while fleeing from Turkey to Greece. The
Maden family (“seyin
, Nur
, Nadire
(13), Bahar (10), and Feridun (7)) perished in
the cold waters of Aegean Sea in November
2017. About three months later in February
2018, the Abdurrezzak family (Ayse Soyler
(37), Halil Munir (3), and Abdulkadir Enes
(11) drowned in the Meric (Evros) river while
trying to exercise a basic right – their right to
leave to avoid discrimination, unprecedented
persecution, and most importantly, to be able
to enjoy international protection from torture,
inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
A brief account of their lives, achievements
and finally their tragic end can be found in the
last section of this paper. While their absence
is already felt quite deeply – they shall not be
forgotten!
Maden Family: Feridun, (“seyin, Nur, Nadire, Bahar
14
Abdurrezzak Family: Abdulkadir, Ayse, Munir
C. Structure of the report
Part III discusses the right of individuals to
leave the country of residence.
Part IV provides an analysis of the right to
seek and enjoy protection/asylum.
Part V and Part VI discuss the current ramifications of the extensive restrictions placed
on citizens in Turkey and abroad.
Part VII offers relevant recommendations
to the government of Turkey, the governments
of neighboring states and the international
community.
Part VIII provides statistical data on the attempts to leave by Turkish nationals, including a non-exhaustive list of recent incidents in
Turkey and neighboring countries, in violation
of the right to leave the country and the right
of individuals to international protection.
The Journalists and Writers Foundation is
most grateful to all those who contributed to
the report, many doing so at great personal
risk for themselves and their families.
The present paper, organized in eight parts,
examines an array of important legal and
practical matters related to the restrictions of
the right to leave the country, including one’s
own, that arise out of the ongoing crackdown
on dissent, following the attempted coup of
July 15, 2016, in Turkey.
Part I (above) provides background information on the restrictions imposed on the exercise of the right to leave during the Cold War
including a detailed information about the
scope and structure of the report.
Part II discusses the right to leave one’s
own country, including the right to non-discrimination and the obligation of states to issue passports. This part examines the right to
leave a country from the perspective of a right
enshrined in international human rights law
and as it has been interpreted by relevant decisions of the ECtHR, and United Nations human rights treaty bodies.
15
No. 27 (1999) of the Human Rights Committee (CCPR) on Article 1216 provides guidance
on the scope of Article . , with the clarification that the “freedom to leave the territory
of a State may not be made dependent on any
specific purpose or on the period of time the
individual chooses to stay outside the country.”17 Further to restrictions provided for in
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,
Article 12, paragraph 3 of the ICCPR, also provides for exceptional circumstances in which
rights under paragraphs 1 and 2 of Article 12
may be restricted. This provision authorizes
the State to restrict these rights only to protect national security, public order ordre public , public health or morals and the rights and
freedoms of others. To be permissible, restrictions must be provided by law, must be necessary in a democratic society for the protection
of these purposes and must be consistent with
all other rights recognized by the ICCPR.
According to the Human Rights Committee, all restrictions of the right to leave must
be narrowly interpreted. In General Comment
No. 27, the CCPR warns that restrictions must
not impair the essence of the right to leave
and that the relationship of the norm to the
exception must not be reversed. The law itself
has to establish the conditions under which
the rights may be limited. Restrictions which
are not provided for in the law or are not in
conformity with the requirements of article
12, paragraph 3, would violate the rights guaranteed by paragraphs 1 and 2.18
PART II
THE RIGHT TO LEAVE ONE’S
OWN COUNTRY
T
he right to leave the country was first
set forth in Article 13.2 of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights: “Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.”13
The right to leave was included in the different versions and articles of the draft-Declaration of the drafting committee – until in a final
renumbered version was adopted without a
vote14 by the United Nations General Assembly, on December 10, 1948.15
Following its enumeration as an important right under the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights, the right to leave was given a
specific form in Article
. of the )nternational Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
(ICCPR): “Everyone shall be free to leave any
country, including his own.” General Comment
13
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 13. Accessible at http://www.un.org/en/
universal-declaration-human-rights/
14
The Universal Declaration on Human Rights as a whole was adopted with 48 votes in favor and 8 abstentions.
Article 13 was adopted unanimously
15
UNGA 183rd plenary session, U.N. Doc. A/PV.183, p. 933 (December 10, 1948). Available from:
http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/PV.183
16
Freedom of movement
17
Human Rights Committee General Comment No. 27, U.N. Doc CCPR/C/21/Rev.1/Add.9, para 8 (1999)
18
)d, para 12
16
in very similar terms in other relevant UN human rights treaties which are in force in the
Republic of Turkey, indicating both, the importance of the right to leave and the objective of
coherence in its interpretation and application.
• The United Nations Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (1966) provides for, in its Article 5, a
prohibition on racial discrimination in the exercise of the right to leave one’s country. “In
compliance with the fundamental obligations
laid down in article 2 of the Convention, States
Parties undertake to prohibit and to eliminate
racial discrimination in all its forms and to
guarantee the right of everyone, without distinction as to race, color, or national or ethnic
origin, to equality before the law, notably in
the enjoyment of the following rights: […] ii
The right to leave any country, including one’s
own, and to return to one’s country.”
• The Convention on the Rights of the Child,
in its Article 10.2, provides for the right of the
child and his or her parents to leave any country, including their own, and to enter their
own country. The right to leave any country
shall be subject only to such restrictions as
are prescribed by law and which are necessary to protect the national security, public
order ordre public , public health or morals
or the rights and freedoms of others and are
consistent with the other rights recognized in
the present Convention.
• The )nternational Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers
and Members of Their Families (CMW) provides for the right to leave in its Article 8.1 “Migrant workers and members of their families shall be free to leave any State, including
their State of origin. This right shall not be
subject to any restrictions except those that
are provided by law, are necessary to protect
Intenational Covenant
of Political and Civil Rights
Article 12
1. Everyone lawfully within the territory of a State
shall, within that territory, have the right to liberty
of movement and freedom to chose his resdence.
2. Everyone shall be free to leave any country, including his own.
3. The above-mentoned rights shall not be subject to
any restrictions except those which are provided by
law, are necessary to protect national security, public order (ordre public), pubic health or morals or
the rights recognized in the present Covenant.
4. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of the right to
enter his own country.
In General Comment No. 27, the Human
Rights Committee further noted that “Article
12, paragraph 3, clearly indicates that it is not
sufficient that the restrictions serve the permissible purposes; they must also be necessary to protect them. Restrictive measures
must conform to the principle of proportionality; they must be appropriate to achieve
their protective function; they must be the
least intrusive instrument amongst those
which might achieve the desired result; and
they must be proportionate to the interest to
be protected.”19 “The principle of proportionality has to be respected not only in the law
that frames the restrictions, but also by the
administrative and judicial authorities in applying the law. States should ensure that any
proceedings relating to the exercise or restriction of these rights are expeditious and that
reasons for the application of restrictive measures are provided.”20
The right to leave a country is also enshrined
19
Human Rights Committee General Comment No. 27, U.N. Doc CCPR/C/21/Rev.1/Add.9, para 14 (1999)
Human Rights Committee General Comment No. 27, U.N. Doc CCPR/C/21/Rev.1/Add.9, para 15 (1999)
20
17
national security, public order (ordre public),
public health or morals or the rights and freedoms of others and are consistent with the
other rights recognized in the present part of
the Convention.”
• The Convention on the Rights of Persons
with Disabilities (CRPD) provides for the right
to leave in its Article 18.1(c). - “States Parties
shall recognize the rights of persons with disabilities to liberty of movement, to freedom to
choose their residence and to a nationality, on
an equal basis with others, including by ensuring that persons with disabilities [...] c Are
free to leave any country, including their own.”
• )n addition to the core UN human rights
treaties, two relevant protocols to the United
Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (2000), namely the Protocol
to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking
in Persons, especially Women and Children21
and the Protocol Against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air22 contain very important provisions related to the right to leave
a country.
• The Declaration on the (uman Rights
of Individuals Who are Not Nationals of the
Country in Which They Live23 provides in its
Article 5.2(a), for the right of aliens: Subject
to such restrictions as are prescribed by law and
which are necessary in a democratic society to
protect national security, public safety, public
order, public health or morals or the rights and
freedoms of others, and which are consistent
with the other rights recognized in the relevant
international instruments and those set forth in
this Declaration, [aliens] shall enjoy the following rights: a The right to leave the country.
Finally, Article 23 of the Turkish Constitution (Freedom of Residence and Movement)
is formulated in very similar terms: “Everyone
has the right to freedom of residence and movement. As for the restrictions, initially, Article
23 provided for restriction of the right to leave
the country also on account of civic obligations. With the amendments to the Constitution introduced in 2010, the ban placed on
leaving the country on account of civic duties
was removed. The restriction provision in the
Constitution was narrowed down and amended as follows: “A citizen’s freedom to leave the
country may only be restricted on account of
criminal investigation or prosecution depending on judicial decision”. The obligation to obtain a judicial decision in order to restrict the
freedom of movement was another positive
development to the right to leave the country,
aiming at prohibiting arbitrary restrictions.24
Turkish Constitution Article
:
Everyone has the right to freedom
of residence and movement. A citizen’s freedom to leave the country
may only be restricted on account of
criminal investigation or prosecution depending on judicial decision.
The Protocol was adopted by resolution A/RES/ / of November ,
at the fifty-fifth session of the
General Assembly of the United Nations and entered into force on 25 December 2003. As of November 2017, it
has been ratified by
state parties
22
The Protocol was adopted by resolution A/RES/ / of November ,
at the fifty-fifth session of the
General Assembly of the United Nations and has been ratified by
states parties
23
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by the General Assembly Res. 40/144 of December 13, 1985
24
See for example: http://newyork.cg.mfa.gov.tr/Mission/ShowAnnouncement/118412
21
18
guarantee provided for in article 26) are not
permissible under article 12 of the ICCPR.
The discrimination on the basis of political
and other opinion is particularly important to
the subject of the present report.
A. The right to non-discrimination
The right to non-discrimination in connection with the right to leave has proved to be
very important in the past, in view of extensive and sometimes blanket restrictions preventing political and other dissidents from
leaving the country. The violations of the right
to leave in today’s authoritarian Turkey25 have
occurred mainly because of discrimination on
the basis of political and other opinions.
The Human Rights Committee in General
Comment No. 2726 says, “the application of
the restrictions permissible under article 12,
paragraph 3 of the ICCPR, needs to be consistent with the other rights guaranteed in the
Covenant and with the fundamental principles of equality and non-discrimination. Thus,
it would be a clear violation of the Covenant if
the rights enshrined in article 12, paragraphs
1 and 2, were restricted by making distinctions of any kind, such as on the basis of race,
color, sex, language, religion, political or other
opinion, national or social origin, property,
birth or other status” (paragraph 18). When
authorities single out individuals, or groups
of individuals prohibiting them to leave the
country (or refusing them travel documents),
the grounds for that behavior must be examined with heightened scrutiny, in order
to ensure that the criteria used in each particular case do not discriminate on prohibited
grounds.
In sum, blanket restrictions, which do not
meet the test of “legality”, or restrictions inconsistent with other rights enshrined in the
Covenant (such as the anti-discrimination
B. The obligation of a state to
issue passports
Article 12.2 of the ICCPR, which grants the
right to leave one’s country, means both that
a state must issue passports and that it must
avoid preventing its citizens from leaving.27
So that the individual may use the rights
guaranteed by article 12, paragraph 2, both the
State of residence and the State of nationality
have obligations they must fulfill.28 The right
to leave a country presupposes the right to obtain the legal documents necessary for international travel, and specifically a passport.
Since the State of nationality is responsible for the issuing of passports, if a State refuses to issue or renew a passport for one of
its nationals who is normally or temporarily
Prohibited discrimination relating to the right to leave the country is discussed in Part …..
CCPR General Comment No. 27 is available at: http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=CCPR%2fC%2f21%2fRev.1%2fAdd.9&Lang=en
27
https://rm.coe.int/the-right-to-leave-a-country-issue-paper-published-by-the-council-of-e/16806da510
28
See communication No. 106/1981, Montero v. Uruguay, paragraph 9.4; communication No. 57/1979, Vidal Martins v. Uruguay, paragraph 7; communication No. 77/1980, Lichtensztejn v. Uruguay, paragraph 6.1
25
26
19
29
See communication No. 57/1979, Vidal Martins v. Uruguay, paragraph 9
Human Rights Committee General Comment No. 27, U.N. Doc CCPR/C/21/Rev.1/Add.9, para 9 (1999)
31
See e.g. Communication No. 77/1980, Samuel Lichtensztejn v. Uruguay
32
Id
33
The author was formerly Director and Dean of the Faculty of Economic Sciences and Administration and Rector
of the University of the Republic of Uruguay
34
Selected decisions of the Human Rights Committee under the Optional Protocol (CCPR/C/OP/2), Communication No. 77/1980, Samuel Lichtensztejn v. Uruguay, para. 2.2, p. 102, available from: http://www.ohchr.org/
Documents/Publications/SelDec_2_en.pdf
35
Id, para 2.3
36
Id, para 8.3
37
Subject matter: Revocation of passport
38
Subject matter: Refusal of issuance of passport
39
Right to freedom of expression
30
20
ground for claiming refugee status, nevertheless, some trafficked persons may qualify
for refugee status if the acts of the traffickers
amount to persecution for one of the reasons
contained in the definition of the
Convention and the State does not provide effective protection.40
In addition, although article 6 of the Protocol Against the Smuggling of Migrants requires
states to take necessary measures within their
domestic legal systems to criminalize the behavior of parties involved in the smuggling
of migrants and sets out aggravating circumstances for crimes under the Protocol, Article
5 expressly excludes from criminal liability
migrants “for the fact of having been the object of conduct set forth in article 6 of this
Protocol.”41 Thus, states cannot legitimately
prosecute migrants when they leave their
own states with documents that they know to
be fraudulent assuming that the facts and circumstances would position the migrants to be
otherwise persecuted. Furthermore, according to the travaux préparatoires, Article 6(1)
(b) “was adopted on the understanding that
subparagraph (ii) would only apply when the
possession in question was for the purpose of
smuggling migrants as set forth in subparagraph (a). Thus, a migrant who possessed a
fraudulent document to enable his or her own
smuggling would not be included.”42
uments to leave Turkey, an important question
arises, namely whether states can legitimately
prosecute asylum seekers for knowingly using
fraudulent documents.
Under international law, asylum claims
must not be considered on the basis of the applicant’s means of entry but on the substantive merits of his or her claim. In practical
terms, this means that all persons, including
smuggled migrants and trafficked persons,
are to have the opportunity and to be provided sufficient information to be able to make a
claim for asylum or to present any other justification for remaining in the country of destination on the basis of those substantive merits. In spite of this important rule, many States
penalize applicants for unlawful entry, use of
false travel documents, and similar strategies
to leave their own country and gain entry to
another. Such penalties are often a breach of
asylum applicants’ rights in procedures to ascertain refugee status. In fact, a claim for refugee status can be made on the basis of having been trafficked under the Guidelines on
international protection issued by UNHCR in
2006: The application of article 1A(2) of the
1951 Convention and/or 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees to victims of trafficking and persons at risk of being trafficked
UN(CR Trafficking Guidelines . According to
these guidelines, although not all victims of
trafficking can be defined as refugees and being a trafficking victim is not in itself a valid
OHCHR, (uman Rights and (uman Trafficking, Fact Sheet No. 36, p. 52, available at: http://www.ohchr.org/
Documents/Publications/FS36_en.pdf
41
See Protocol Against the Smuggling of Migrants, Article 6
42
According to the travaux préparatoires to the Palermo Protocol, the victims of trafficking in persons may enter
a State legally only to face subsequent exploitation, whereas in cases of smuggling of migrants, illegal means
of entry are more generally used.” GAOR, Report of the Ad Hoc Committee on the Elaboration of a Convention
Against Transnational Organized Crime on the Work of its First to Eleventh Sessions, 55th Sess., Addendum,
)nterpretative Notes for the Official Records Travaux Préparatoires of the Negotiation of the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime and the Protocols Thereto (Travaux Préparatoires),
U.N. Doc. A/ /
/Add. , at , para.
, available at http://www.undoc/org/pdf/crime/final_
instruments/383a1e.pdf
40
21
Comment No. 27, the Human Rights Committee provides some further clarification on its
interpretation of Article 12, paragraph 2, on
the destination of the aliens after leaving a
country: “As the scope of article 12, paragraph
2, is not restricted to persons lawfully within
the territory of a State, an alien being legally
expelled from the country is likewise entitled
to elect the State of destination, subject to the
agreement of that State.”
In its General Comment 15 on the position
of the aliens under the Covenant, the Human
Rights Committee clarifies that Once an alien
is lawfully within a territory, his freedom of
movement within the territory and his right to
leave that territory may only be restricted in
accordance with article 12, paragraph 3. Differences in treatment in this regard between
aliens and nationals, or between different categories of aliens, need to be justified under Article 12, paragraph 3. Since such restrictions
PART III
THE RIGHT TO LEAVE THE
COUNTRY OF RESIDENCE
T
he right to leave a country of which one
is not a citizen is fully protected under
the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights and international human rights treaties. Article 13.2 of the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights makes it clear that the right
to leave a country is not limited to citizens, it
actually extends to anyone and everyone no
matter where an individual resides.
Article 12.2 of the International Covenant
on Civil and Political Rights provides for the
right of foreigners, persons lawfully or unlawfully present in a territory of a state party to
the ICCPR, to leave the country. In its General
Protest demonstration outside the Karachi Press Club for the recovery of the Kaçmaz family, who were
recently kidnapped in Lahore and taken away to an unknown location. Photo: Fahim Siddiqi / White Star
22
must, inter alia, be consistent with the other
rights recognized in the Covenant, a State party cannot, by restraining an alien or deporting
him to a third country, arbitrarily prevent his
return to his own country (art. 12, para. 4).43
In summary, based on the interpretation of
the right to leave in the Covenant contained
in General Comment 15 and 27, it can be concluded that in the view of the Human Rights
Committee:
PART IV
THE RIGHT TO SEEK AND
ENJOY PROTECTION/ASYLUM
T
he 1951 UN Convention relating to the
Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol further provide for the definition of
the refugee status. Pursuant to the Convention, the right to seek and enjoy asylum pertains to refugees defined under its Article as
[a] person who owing to a well-founded fear of
being persecuted for reasons of race, religion,
nationality, membership of a particular social
group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing
to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the
protection of that country; or who, not having
a nationality and being outside the country of
his former habitual residence as a result of such
events, is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to it. 44
The protection granted to the refugee
means, both in theory and practice, a guarantee that he or she will not be sent back to the
country where he or she would be subject to
persecution.
The 1984 United Nations Convention
against Torture extends the non-refoulement45
obligation for states to anyone who is at risk
of torture. Article 3.1 of the European Convention on Human Rights provides for the following: No State Party shall expel, return re-
. The choice of the country to which
an alien could leave is up to the individual, subject to the approval by the
country of destination.
. )f the only country the individual
may travel is the country of his/
her citizenship and that person has
a reasonable fear of persecution,
or there is a real risk of torture or
ill-treatment there, then he or she
cannot be forced to travel there. The
individual is then entitled to international protection where he/she is
present.
. )n case an individual has been
already expelled from a country to
another country of which he/she is
not a citizen, the person still has the
right to leave from the country he/
she is present.
The right to leave the country of residence,
applicable to thousands of Turkish citizens
abroad is discussed in Part VI.
43
CCPR General Comment No. 15, paragraph 8, April 11, 1986
http://unhcr.org.ua/en/who-we-help/2011-08-26-06-55-36
45
Non-refoulement represents a fundamental principle in international law, which forbids a country receiving
asylum seekers from returning them to a country in which they would be in likely danger of persecution based
on “race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion”
44
23
Photo: Morocco World News
The right to seek and enjoy asylum is deeply embedded in the international human
rights system. The right first appears in the
Universal Declaration of (uman
Rights, Article . , which reads: “Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.”
fouler or extradite a person to another State
where there are substantial grounds for believing that he would be in danger of being subjected to torture. This prohibition is absolute and
does not admit any exception.
Interpreting Article 3 of the Convention,46
the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR)
has emphasized its fundamental nature in
prohibiting torture in absolute terms [...] irrespective of a victim’s conduct”.47 According
to the Court, this also entails that states cannot deport or extradite individuals who may
be subjected to torture, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, in the state to
which they are to be deported.48
Refugee recognition is, however, possible
only once the applicant is outside his or her
country of origin. As long as an individual is
still within his or her state of origin or habitual residence, then he or she cannot be recognized as a refugee under the 1951 Convention
relating to the Status of Refugees. Along the
same lines, a person who fears torture cannot
be granted and receive international protection if he or she is still in his or her country
of origin or habitual residence. The individual
seeking asylum must necessarily cross an international border into another country, in or-
46
Article 3 of the ECHR prohibits torture and “inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment”. There are no
exceptions or limitations on this right
47
See e.g. Chahal v. United Kingdom (1997) 23 EHRR 413
48
Id, see also Soering v. United Kingdom (1989) 11 EHRR 439
24
to the specific situation at the Greek-Turkish
border the High Commissioner underlined
that: While every State has the right to control its borders, it is clear that among the many
people crossing Turkey toward the European
Union, there are a significant number who are
fleeing violence and persecution. Establishing
border control mechanisms which are sensitive to the needs of people seeking protection is
therefore vital.
The particular issue that the High Commissioner was addressing, which is still highly
relevant, was the right to leave and the introduction by state authorities of measures and
restrictions aimed at preventing individuals
fleeing persecution and torture from arriving
at their borders or entering their territory.
In addition to restrictive measures by
states of origin and destination states, there
are three other state border control practices which are important to the right to leave
one’s country to flee persecution.50 The first
comprises practices which make entry to the
der to be able to seek and enjoy asylum and
protection from refoulement.
Key to the right to seek and enjoy asylum
and to be protected from refoulement is the
right of people to leave their countries. Until
they have done so they cannot be recognized
as refugees, but only as internally displaced
persons. The right to international protection
arises only once the individual has crossed an
international border. This is why the right to
leave one’s country is fundamental to the right
to international protection.
Thus, there is clearly a protection gap between the right to leave because of persecution
or torture and the obligation of states parties
to comply with their respective obligations under the Refugee Convention and the Convention against Torture, namely not to refouler individuals at risk. As long as oppressive regimes
implement restrictive measures to prevent individuals from leaving the state of origin, the
situation arises that notwithstanding the risk
of, inter alia, torture and repression, refugees
practically do not “exist”. This issue will be discussed more in-depth in Section V below.
Across the border, a concern of another nature, shared by different stakeholders, including the UN High Commissioner for Refugees is
evident. Many states, at least in Europe are exploiting the above gap in order to avoid their
protection obligations.
Reacting to those concerns, on January 7,
2011, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees
issued a briefing note on the right to flee emphasizing the following: “We are concerned
whenever states propose measures that aim
at preventing irregular migrants from entering their territory without simultaneously
putting concrete guarantees in place for those
seeking international protection.”49 Referring
António Guterres, Former High Commissioner for
Refugees (Photo: Yoshiaki Miura)
49
UN High Commissioner for Refugees, As states increase border controls, UNHCR calls for sensitivity for those
fleeing persecution, January ,
. Available at www.refworld.org/docid/ d ac
.html, accessed on November 30, 2017
50
“The right to leave a country,” Issue Paper by the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights (October 2013), p. 26-27
25
destination country difficult for those fleeing
persecution. First among these is an obligatory entry visa. So, for example, the majority
of countries whose citizens apply for international protection in the EU member states,
and this includes Turkish citizens, are on the
EU’s visa black list. This means that these persons must obtain visas before traveling to the
EU or otherwise arrive irregularly. The second border-control practice which prevents
people from fleeing to apply for international
protection is the practice of sending immigration liaison officers to third states to identify persons who should not be permitted to
board planes to arrive in the state for which
the liaison officer works. This is done in conjunction with airlines. The third practice is the
construction of physical blockades, including
fences and walls, by states wishing to prevent
asylum seekers from entering.
During the third quarter of 2017 there
were ,
first-time applicants from Turkey
for international protection in the EU member
states; 2,380 (56%) individuals sought asylum
in Germany, 705 (17%) in Greece, 265 (6%)
in France, 145 (3%) in the United Kingdom
and the rest (545 (13%)) in other EU member
states.51
human rights law as not only prohibiting the
practice of torture and other ill-treatment,
but also the return of a person to any country
where there is a real risk that he or she would
be subjected to torture, inhuman or degrading
treatment or punishment that falls in the ambit of Article 3 of the Convention.52 Similar to
the relevant obligations under the UN Torture
Convention, this means that Council of Europe
states are prohibited from sending someone
to a country where there is such a risk.
On February 23, 2012, the Grand Chamber
of the ECtHR adopted a judgment in a case
where Italy had practiced a form of interdiction, by collecting people on the high seas and
returning them to Libya.53 The Court ruled
that this violated Article 3 of the Convention
both because the applicants were at risk of illtreatment in Libya and because the applicants
were at risk of being repatriated to Somalia
and Eritrea. The Court also found a violation
A. Council of Europe Guarantees
The European Convention on Human Rights
does not contain any specific provision regarding refugees. Article 3 of the Convention however prohibits torture, inhuman or degrading
treatment or punishment. The jurisprudence
of the Court has interpreted Article 3 consistently with developments in international
The European Convention on Human Rights
prohibits the practice of torture and other illtreatment as well as prohibiting the return of a
person to any country where there is a real risk
that he or she would be subjected to torture, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
51
Asylum quarterly report, Figure 2, Table 5, (December 12, 2017), available from: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Asylum_quarterly_report
52
Soering v. United Kingdom (1989) 11 EHRR 439
53
(irsi Jamaa and Others v. )taly, Application no. 27765/09, Council of Europe: European Court of Human Rights, February 23,
, available at: http://www.refworld.org/cases,EC(R, f
.html [accessed Dec. ,
]
26
of Article 4 of Protocol No. 4 to the Convention
(the prohibition on collective expulsion) and
a violation of the right to an effective remedy
(Article 13) in respect of Article 4 of Protocol
No. 4 to the Convention.54
Other provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights are also relevant to the
right of individuals to enter and remain in
a state because of their fear regarding their
treatment in their country of origin. Article 2,
which guarantees the right to life, is engaged
in the same manner as Article 3 where there
is a risk of extrajudicial killing and following
the entry into force of Protocol No. 13 to the
Convention, where there is a risk of the death
penalty.55 Similarly, Article 6, which protects
the right to a fair trial in criminal and civil proceedings may be a bar to sending someone to
a country where he or she would be subject to
trial where the evidence is tainted by torture. 56
PART V
THE WITCH-HUNT IN TURKEY
A. Resmi Gazete or
Turkey’s purge lists
In April 2017, the New York Times Magazine reported that the Turkish governmentrun website called Resmi Gazete, or Official
Gazette had been transformed from the official information outlet for the publication of
bills passed by the Turkish Parliament into
a site of lists - that of the names of the first
thousands of those who would eventually be
purged from government ministries, schools,
courts, universities, nongovernmental organizations, police departments, military battalions, hospitals and banks.”
The lists are usually released after midnight, Turkish citizens check the names online, and the news spreads rapidly via Twitter
and Facebook. This is how many people learn
that they have lost their jobs, their pensions,
and their passports, and this information is
available to the public so the victims, their extended families and even their children are instantly blacklisted and ostracized.
B. European Union Guarantees
At the European Union level, the European
Union gave legally binding force to its Charter of Fundamental Rights in December 2009.
The Charter includes two provisions which
provide protection to people fearing expulsion from an EU state. The first, Article
,
creates a right to asylum with due respect to
the Refugee Convention. The Court of Justice
of the European Union has, on a number of
occasions, made reference to this article. Secondly, Article 19 not only prohibits collective
expulsion but also prohibits the removal, expulsion or extradition of a person to any country where there is a serious risk that he or she
would be subject to the death penalty, torture
or other inhuman or degrading treatment or
punishment.57
54
“The right to leave a country,” Issue Paper by the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights (October 2013), p. 30
See also the section below on the issue of death penalty in Turkey
56
See e.g. Othman Abu Qatada v. The United Kingdom, Application no. 8139/09, Council of Europe: European Court of Human Rights,
January ,
, available at: http://www.refworld.org/cases,EC(R, f
dc .html [accessed December ,
]
57
“The right to leave a country,” Issue Paper by the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights (October 2013), p. 30
55
27
relevant administrative entities and officials.
Judges are dismissed on the same grounds by
virtue of Article 3 (1) by decisions of the relevant judicial bodies (top courts and the High
Council for Judges and Prosecutors-HCJP).
The scale of Turkey’s purge in the aftermath of the July 15, 2016, has been nearly
unprecedented. Through monitoring government decrees and other reports from official
sources, by the end of November 2017 Turkey
Purge59 reported on 146,713 dismissals and
128,998 detentions.
What are the criteria for the hundreds of
thousands of dismissals? How are they determined? On September 3, 2016, the daily
Milliyet newspaper revealed a shocking nonexhaustive “list of 16 criteria” used to “guide”
the dismissals. According to the published article,60 people fitting these criteria in varying degrees are subjected to official processes.
According to the article, “the government allegedly emphasized that the aim of preparing
such a list was to discern the guilty from the
innocent.”
Extraordinarily, as the New York Times
Magazine points out, “The lists aren’t just of
people. Entire organizations, however innocuous seeming, show up on them: the Holistic
and Alternative Medical Foundation, the Love
Trees Protect Forests Live Humanely Foundation, the Gastrointestinal Oncology Foundation, to name just a few. Many of these are not
Gulenist but Kurdish or leftist. If it seems as
though Turkey’s purge lists are touching every
part of its society, that’s because they are.”58
B. Dismissals of public officials
Article 4 (1) of Decree Law No. 667 of July
,
, the first in a series of subsequent Decree Laws orders the dismissal of public servants “who are considered to be a member of,
or have relation, connection or contact with
terrorist organizations or structure/entities,
organizations or groups, established by the
National Security Council as engaging in activities against the national security of the State”.
Public officials are dismissed by decision of the
The New York Times Magazine, )nside Turkey s Purge, April 13, 2017, available at https://www.nytimes.
com/2017/04/13/magazine/inside-turkeys-purge.html?_r=0
59
A monitoring group tracking the purge and exposing human rights abuses through an online platform
60
The article is available at: http://www.milliyet.com.tr/16-kritere-gore-ihrac-gundem-2305561/
58
28
The criteria listed in the article are the following:
1. Investing money in Bank Asya (a legally operating bank until was closed down by the government in
, and in other financial institutions of the so-called parallel structure .
2. Being a member of Hizmet-related trade unions or associations.
3. Using encrypted communication applications such as the ByLock application.
4. Donating to Kimse Yok Mu, once the largest Turkish aid organization.
5. Being mentioned in reports produced by the police, MIT (The National Intelligence Organization of Turkey) and MASAK (The Financial Crimes Investigation Board of Turkey)
6. Giving support to Hizmet on social media.
7. Attending lectures and meetings of the organization “under the guise of non-governmental
organizations.”
. Being promoted in a short span of time or being assigned to prominent offices exceptionally.
9. Transferring money to the organization under the guise of himmet (alms).
10. Being subject to reliable denunciations, testimonies and confessions.
11. Visiting Hizmet-linked Internet sites regularly.
12. Undertaking the “back-door businesses” of Hizmet-linked corporations and protecting them.
13. Accompanying the people in the judiciary and the police, who are determined to act in favor
of the organization.
14. Supporting Hizmet in the last years after having resided in houses of the organization.
15. Being mentioned in the information given by colleagues and friends as Hizmet supporter
16. Continuing to enroll their children in the organization’s schools and maintaining the organization’s newspaper and magazine subscriptions.
Reporting in April 2017, The New York
Times Magazine noted in relation to being accused of belonging or supporting the G“len
Movement that “At present, several pieces
of evidence can suggest that you may be a
member of FETO,61 including having had an
account at Bank Asya, which was founded
by Gulenists; running the ByLock encrypted
communication app on your phone (thought
to have facilitated planning for the coup attempt); possessing those F-series dollar bills;
sending your children to a school associated
with G“len; working at a G“len-affiliated institution (a university, say, or a hospital); having
subscribed to the G“len newspaper Zaman; or
having G“len’s books in your house. 62
Pro-Fetullah [Gulenist] Terrorist Organization FETO� /PDY , a derogatory term used by government circles to
refer to the (izmet/G“len movement.
62
BBC News, Turkey arrests 1,000 in raids targeting Gulen suspects, April 26, 2017. Available at: http://www.bbc.
com/news/world-europe-39716631
61
29
C. Cancellation and non-issuance
of passports
have their passports seized or canceled before they can board the plane. Even those who
have not been labeled members of a terrorist
organization or been accused of trying to kill
Erdoğan have arrived at the passport line and
been made to wait while a clerk calls someone and reads their Turkish ID number over
the phone to confirm that they are allowed to
leave the country.”65
Decree No.
, the first decree under the
State of Emergency, published in the Official
Gazette on July
[
] provides in its Article 5 for the cancellation of passports of all
those subjected to administrative acts, criminal investigation and prosecution, in clear
violation of international human rights law
and Article 23 of the Turkish Constitution.
By December 2017, the authorities revoked
234,419 passports since the attempted coup
of July 15, 2016.66
The Council of Europe Commissioner for
(uman Rights raised [on July ,
] serious
concerns with regards to Decree KHK/667,67
including the provisions in Article 5 regarding
the automatic cancellation of passports of persons being investigated or prosecuted, without any court order. On September [
],
an amendment to the decree extended this
power, enabling the authorities to cancel or
confiscate the passports of spouses and partners of those under investigation.68 Article
10(2) of KHK 673 reads as follows: “The following Paragraph has been added to Article 5
of the Decree-Law No. 667:“(2) The passports
held by the spouses of persons, whose names
In the aftermath of the coup attempt, UN
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged Turkish
authorities to do their utmost to ensure that
the constitutional order and international human rights law are fully respected in line with
Turkey’s international obligations, including
freedom of expression, freedom of movement
and peaceful assembly, independence of the
judiciary and of the legal profession, right to
fair trial, and strict adherence to due process.63
Since the attempted coup of July 15, 2016,
the Turkish authorities have increasingly resorted to the arbitrary deprivation of citizenship, denial of important consular services
and cancellation of passports, as a means to
punish dissent and retaliate against human
rights defenders, teachers, academics and
journalists in the country and exile.
In a report64 published on May 22, 2017,
Amnesty International echoed the question
- Are dismissed public officials left to civil
death? […] The routine cancellation of passports violates the right to freedom of movement, while the lack of an effective appeal procedure threatens the right to a fair trial and an
effective remedy.”
The New York Times Magazine noted in
April 2017 that it has become a common feature that freedom of movement i.e. trying to
leave Turkey, has been curtailed: “People become aware of their imminent detention or
arrest and try to catch a foreign flight, only to
Turkey: )n call with Foreign Minister, Ban seeks update on current probe into attempted coup, July 27, 2016, Available at: http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=54572#.WiBJbhNSzfY
64
Amnesty International, “No end in sight, Purged public sector workers denied a future in Turkey , May 2017
65
The New York Times Magazine, Inside Turkey’s Purge, April 13, 2017. Available at: https://www.nytimes.
com/2017/04/13/magazine/inside-turkeys-purge.html?_r=0
66
Turkish interior minister: 55,665 jailed, 234,419 passports revoked since coup attempt, available at: https://turkeypurge.com/turkish-interior-minister-55665-jailed-234419-passports-revoked-since-coup-attempt
67
https://www.coe.int/en/web/media-freedom/-/commissionner-statement-on-measures-taken-under-thestate-of-emergency-in-turkey
68
Human Rights Watch, Turkey, State of emergency provisions violate human rights and should be revoked, - Joint
NGO Letter, October 20, 2016
63
30
are notified to the relevant passport unit under Paragraph 1, may also be cancelled by the
Ministry of Interior on the same date where it
is considered as detrimental in terms of general safety.”69
In this regard, the government of Turkey
has not offered any argument for as to why
seizing the passports of those dismissed
through administrative acts are necessary to
protect national security and the public order. In addition, justifying the restrictions on
the freedom of movement to family members
through what decree-law 673 describes as “detrimental in terms of general safety” - does
certainly not meet the standards of the Human Rights Committee, as provided for in its
General Comment No. 27.
Cancellation of passports of family members raises other serious concerns on ‘guilt
through association’. Following his visit to
Turkey in September 2016, the CoE Commissioner found that “A series of measures of particular concern to the Commissioner are those
which target directly or are liable to affect
family members of suspects in an automatic
fashion. In addition to the evictions, termination of lease agreements and freezing of assets
of the said suspects, which are likely to create unnecessary hardship and victimization
for family members, the Commissioner noted
other measures of an administrative nature,
such as the possibility for annulling passports
of spouses of suspects who are themselves not
under investigation and the unlimited access
by administrative authorities to the personal
data of family members of suspects.” This approach according to the Commissioner raised
extremely serious concerns with regard to Article 8 of the ECHR. The Commissioner further
expressed his concern that such measures will
inevitably fuel the impression of ‘guilt by association’, already voiced by many of his interlocutors. In the opinion of the Commissioner,
any measure treating family members of a suspect also as potential suspects should not exist in a democratic society, even during a state
of emergency.”70 Similar concerns were also
expressed by different human rights bodies,
including the UN Special Rapporteur on the
right to freedom of opinion and expression,
other special procedure mandate-holders and
UN human rights treaty bodies.71
In a report published in May 2017, Amnesty
International detailed the plight of dismissed
public officials in several interviews with the
victims. An academic dismissed from Kocaeli
University told Amnesty International: “We
had no idea that our passports had been cancelled, one of the other dismissed academics
from the university was detained while going
through passport control at the airport. After
that we got our lawyer to check - apparently
all of our passports have been cancelled.”72
Passport cancellations apply to both the
green passports available to senior publicsector employees in place of an ordinary passport and to ordinary passports. Applications
for new passports by dismissed people, after
their existing passports had been cancelled,
have been routinely refused by the authori-
69
Decree with the force of law No. 673, Article 10(2), September 1, 2016. Available from: http://www.turkishpedia.
com/2017/01/25/decree-with-force-of-law-no-khk-673-english/
70
Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Memorandum on the human rights implications of the measures taken under the state of emergency in Turkey, October 6, 2016, Sanctions affecting persons other than the
suspects, paragraph 41, p. 8
71
See UN Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression, Preliminary conclusions and observations by the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression to his visit to Turkey
14-18 November 2016, November 18, 2016
72
Amnesty International, “No end in sight, Purged public sector workers denied a future in Turkey” (May 2017), p. 15
31
ties. Difficulties were also reported by those
who had managed to leave the country. An
academic who left Turkey prior to being dismissed told Amnesty International that the
Turkish Embassy in Berlin refused to provide
consular services to her or other dismissed
public-sector workers, without explanation.73
widely documented, even on social media.76
In the early hours of November 4, 2016,
the Turkish police arrested 12 lawmakers (8
women) from the Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), including its co-chairs,
D. Severe political repression
It is generally accepted that four devastating, yet incomparable events for Turkey – the
Gezi Park protests74 in 2013, the corruption
scandal of December 2013, the collapse of
peace negotiations in July
and finally,
the July
attempted coup respectively –
encouraged the intensification of hostilities
in the south-east and the crackdown on dissent, in particular against the Hizmet Movement and its members or alleged members.
These events triggered the Turkish government’s extreme sense of threat from domestic
and foreign “enemies”. Its assault on state and
civil society institutions, particularly against
the media and academia, goes far beyond anything reasonable.
Using emergency powers adopted after the
attempted coup, on September 1, 2016 the government adopted a Decree-Law (KHK/674)75
enabling it to appoint “trustees” in lieu of
elected mayors, deputy mayors or members of
municipal councils suspended or arrested on
terrorism charges. Between July 22, 2015, and
March
[
], ,
members of Peoples’
Democratic Party (HDP) were detained and
2,782 party members have been imprisoned,
including three (3) women governors. 494
(DP offices have been attacked; burned or
vandalized, including the party headquarters.
HDP rallies were attacked and law enforcement’s support for these attacks have been
Gezi Park Protests (2013)
Media Protests (2016)
Failed Coup (2016)
73
Id, p. 15
More information on Gezi Park protests is available at: https://www.amnestyusa.org/files/eur
en.pdf
75
http://www.venice.coe.int/webforms/documents/default.aspx?pdffile=CDL-REF
-e
76
Mehmet Yuksel, Testimony before the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Hearing: “Turkey’s Democracy
Under Challenge,” Washington D.C., April 5, 2017
74
32
Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Y“ksekdağ, on
a range of “terrorism”-related charges. Investigations were also initiated against 54 out of
59 MPs from the HDP, the third largest party in
Turkey’s Parliament. Parliamentary immunity
of 55 out of 59
HDP MPs was
lifted, in a step
clearly seen as
enabling the
prosecution
of the party’s
MPs.
By the end of November 2016, the Democratic Regions Party (DBP)77co-chair reported
that from September to November 2016, 700
party officials had been arrested, along with
42 DBP municipal co-chairs. By the end of
2016, 69 municipal co-chairs of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Regions Party (DBP) had been
arrested, 58 had been dismissed and most had
been replaced with “trustees” in 50 municipalities,78 or around 50 percent of all municipalities held by DBP.
In April 2017, the situation further deteriorated: “At the 84 municipalities run by the proKurdish Democratic Regions Party (DBP), 88
co-mayors and 6 deputy co-mayors were dismissed and replaced by state appointed trustees. The mayors and co-mayors are currently
under arrest. These mayors and co-mayors
were all democratically elected by the people
with overwhelming majority. Around 10,000
municipality and humanitarian employees
of Kurdish origin have been suspended from
their positions. The government has also been
confiscating the monetary assets of people
they remove from their positions.”79
Following the visit to Turkey in November
2016, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right
to freedom of opinion and expression [David
Kaye] highlighted in his preliminary conclusions80 and the report81 that “several HDP
leaders have been imprisoned on the basis of
emergency decrees, while they also face Ministry of Interior charges of making false propaganda. 117 investigations have been initiated
recently in addition to 683 existing cases. 500
cases belong to HDP and members of parliament of HDP. The co-chairs of the HDP alone
face 103 cases. Since the attempted coup, approximately two thousand members of the
HDP have been detained.”
Mr. David Kaye, UN Special Rapporteur on the
Promotion and Protection of the Right to Freedom of
Opinion and Expression
The state of emergency has now removed
the few remaining legal safety nets and
brought arbitrary governmental decisionmaking to new unprecedented heights. In the
aftermath of the attempted coup, individuals,
in particular those who are accused of Hizmet
G“len links, are stripped of all legal recourse
against such arbitrary measures based on the
denial of access to a lawyer during police custody, prolonged pre-trial detention, criminalization of dissent and ill-treatment of detain-
77
DBP is a Social Democratic Kurdish political party
http://www.hdp.org.tr/en/english/statements/ongoing-detentions-and-arrests-against-hdp/9717
79
Mehmet Yuksel, Testimony before the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Hearing: “Turkey’s Democracy
Under Challenge,” Washington D.C., April 5, 2017.
80
A/HRC/35/22/Add.3., June 7, 2017
81
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/FreedomOpinion/Pages/Visits.aspx
78
33
ees. Tens of thousands of women, including
housewives, journalists, teachers, academics,
physicians, health care professionals and businesswomen, have been detained in the aftermath of the attempted coup, for allegedly having links to the Hizmet Movement. Credible
evidence indicates that many of the detained
women in the aftermath of the coup attempt
have been routinely subjected to torture and
ill-treatment. Many appear to have also been
sexually assaulted.
Individuals detained as part of the government crackdown on the G“len Movement continue to be subjected to what has been regularly described as systematically perpetrated
ill-treatment and torture, in places where
individuals are deprived of their liberty – as
pointed out inter alia by UN human rights bodies and mechanisms, as well as civil society organizations. Most alarmingly, in past months
since the attempted coup in Turkey, independent reports have documented more than 90
suspicious deaths officially ruled as suicide,82
while many other individuals have been subjected to enforced disappearance.83
According to official sources, by mid-December [
], ,
individuals had been
arrested in operations against the G“len/
Hizmet Movement.84
Lawyers, family members and human rights
activists have disclosed to the Journalists and
Writers Foundation serious allegations of discrimination and ill-treatment of women during pregnancy, childbirth and in particular the
postpartum period. Cases of discrimination
and alleged ill-treatment range from arrest of
pregnant women, women in labor taken into
custody, denial of medical services and deten-
tion/arrest of women during the postpartum
period.
Most alarming, hundreds of women, children and elderly are among approximately
1,200 local residents summarily killed between
July 2015 and December 2016, in the context
of security operations in South-East Turkey.
Women, children and elderly also constitute
the majority of those reported internally displaced persons (IDPs) in South-East Turkey,
estimated between 355,000 to half a million
people, mainly citizens of Kurdish origin.85
Persecution of women through the abuse
of the criminal justice system targets all age
groups, from as young as 18 to 86 years of
age, aiming mainly at creating an atmosphere
of fear and intimidation which could facilitate
the government’s widespread and systematic
crackdown on political and other dissent. Most
of the persecution targets a highly-educated
segment among women that includes professionals ranging from academics, teachers,
doctors, judges and prosecutors. Increasingly
women are also taken into custody only for the
purpose of convincing their husbands fleeing
persecution to either turn themselves in to police or once in custody to sign false testimonies.
E. )nflammatory rhetoric and hate
speech targeting (izmet Movement
President Erdogan and his political allies
have, in recent years, ramped up their use of
xenophobic and intolerant language and hate
speech. They have deliberately deepened division and polarization within Turkey for their
own short-term political advantage. This is
damaging to the social cohesion, pluralism and
integrity of Turkish society, as well as threat-
82
More details on the victims available from: http://stockholmcf.org/suspicious-deaths-and-suicides-in-turkeyupdated-list/
83
For more please see: https://turkeypurge.com/forced-disappearance-tracking
84
Turkish interior minister: ,
jailed,
, 9 passports revoked since coup attempt, available at: https://turkeypurge.com/turkish-interior-minister-55665-jailed-234419-passports-revoked-since-coup-attempt
85
OHCHR, Report on the human rights situation in South-East Turkey, July 2015 to December 2016, para 14
34
F. Stigmatization and discrimination
ening fundamental human rights and liberties
and politicizing state institutions. The pattern
of hate speech, directed particularly at Hizmet
Movement participants has resulted in mass
persecution, unparalleled by anything in the
recent history of Turkey.
In its Opinion on Emergency Decree Laws
Nos. 667-676,89 adopted following the failed
coup of July 15, 2016, the Venice Commission
outlined the main concerns related to the current constitutional situation in Turkey among
which it pointed out several discriminatory
features that disproportionately affect the dismissed individuals. Firstly, using its emergency powers, the government has dismissed tens
of thousands of public servants. Although the
lists appended to the emergency-decree laws
name particular individuals, no individualized
reasoning is presented for the dismissal of any
person. As such the dismissals are a collective punishment. In addition, there is no due
process, so public servants, for example, are
not permitted access to a normal disciplinary
procedure which would allow them to defend
themselves against accusations, challenge disciplinary action, or prevent their dismissal.
These collective dismissals have been enacted on the grounds of public servants’ alleged connections to the G“lenist network or
to other organizations which the government
claims are “terrorist”. However, the concepts
of “terrorist organization” and “connection”
are so loosely defined that the dismissals do
not require any kind of link sufficient to call
into question the public servants’ loyalty to
the state. Furthermore, measures associated
with the public servants’ dismissals also unjustly penalize their family members. Finally,
by dismissing public servants through lists appended to decree-laws and similar measure,
the government of Turkey aims to deprive
citizens of the right to judicial review which
Research86 by the Stockholm Center for Freedom (SCF) has documented over 240 different
pejorative terms used as hate speech about the
Hizmet Movement.87 This hate speech has also
served as self-justification for human rights
abusers and those who torture prisoners in detention centers and prisons. The many cases of
torture that have been verified by human rights
organization demonstrate that Erdoğan’s demonization of the whole Hizmet movement
has thoroughly permeated the attitudes and
behavior of law enforcement officers.
President Erdoğan and his government
have gone to the extreme many times by declaring that Hizmet Movement members do
not have a right to life. He repeatedly publicly discusses the idea of reinstating the death
penalty specifically for the members of the
Hizmet Movement.88
86
Available at: http://stockholmcf.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Erdogans-Vile-Campaign-Of-Hate-SpeechCase-Study-Targeting-Of-The-Gulen-Movement_2017.pdf
87
See also: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIQcj1v9xG4
88
See for example https://turkeypurge.com/president-erdogan-gulenists-will-not-enjoy-right-to-life-in-turkey
89
Venice Commission, Opinion on emergency decree laws Nos 667-676 adopted following the failed coup of 15 July
2016, 109th Plenary Session (December 9-10, 2016), para 227
35
G. Deliberate deprivation of
resources needed for
physical survival
would be available to them if they had been
dismissed under the normal disciplinary procedures.
Dismissed public officials are unduly stigmatized and discriminated against when their
names are listed in annexes to the decrees,
which clearly constitutes interference with
their private life and moreover - “unlawful attack on [their] honor and reputation Constitution Article 20, Article 8 of the ECHR and ICCPR Article 17). In the Sayadi case, the Human
Rights Committee concluded that dissemination of authors’ names by publication in the
Official Gazette, constitutes an attack on their
honor and reputation in light of the negative
association some persons could make between the authors’ names and the title of the
UN sanctions lists.90
In a report91 published on May 22, 2017,
Amnesty International echoes the question
- Are dismissed public officials left to civil
death? Dismissals based on political affiliation, union membership or actions such as
participation in demonstrations violate the
rights to freedom of expression, association
or assembly, in addition to the right to nondiscrimination. […] Due to the stigma of being branded ‘terrorists’ under the decrees,
many have not been able to find any work at
all. Others, along with their families, have lost
housing and health care benefits connected to
their jobs. Unable to earn a living in Turkey,
dismissed public sector employees have been
prevented from seeking employment abroad,
as the decrees also require the cancelation of
their passports.92
The government has not hesitated to resort
to less obvious methods of destruction of people’s lives, such as the deliberate deprivation
of resources needed for the physical survival
of those dismissed and which are available to
the rest of the population, such as food and
medical services.
Twelve businessmen93 were detained in the
beginning of March 2017 in Kayseri province
for raising humanitarian relief for families
adversely affected by the ongoing crackdown
on the Hizmet Movement. In May 2017 M.S.
was detained for helping the overseas followers of the G“len Movement raise money for
post-coup victims in Turkey. Bursa police carried out an investigation to round up M.S. who
was suspected of distributing money allegedly
transferred from Canada-based G“len followers to his account.94
(. )mposition of life-threatening
forcible deportation and segregation
Since July 2016, there have been repeated
calls to forcibly displace the alleged members
or sympathizers of the Hizmet Movement into
detention or concentration camps given that
“they have been left without a house, without
financial resources, and nobody wants to be
seen with them.”95 In August 2016, acting under powers granted by the state of emergency
authorities announced [and later implemented] plans to release up to
,
prisoners
roughly one in five in Turkish prisons of con-
Sayadi and Vinck v. Belgium, CCPR/C/94/D/1472/2006, para. 10.12 (Dec. 29, 2008)
Amnesty International, “No end in sight, Purged public sector workers denied a future in Turkey” (May 2017)
92
Amnesty International, “No end in sight, Purged public sector workers denied a future in Turkey” (May 2017), p. 4
93
(anifi Y., Muaz B., Mehmet A., Altan A., (acı Ali D., Mahmut A., Mustafa A., Selçuk A., Fuat G., )�brahim Ş., )�hsan Y. and Ali K
94
81See for more: https://turkeypurge.com/retired-public-servant-under-custody-for-distributing-donations-topost-coup-victims
95
https://turkeypurge.com/pro-govt-journalist-gulen-followers-should-be-kept-in-camps-given-food-tickets
90
91
36
through the bylaw promulgated by the Interior Ministry of Turkey on August 31st, 2016,
which grants individuals who “help” the security forces to find perpetrators of terror acts
money awards up to TRY 4 million (approximately $1,000,000). The president and highlevel officials constantly call on the public to
report and use violence against those allegedly members or sympathizers of the Hizmet/
G“len Movement.97
The Financial Times reported in March
that As political pressure intensifies,
friends, colleagues and even spouses are reporting each other for a range of offenses.”98
The same source further elaborated: “On an
victed criminals) to make room for the wave
of journalists, teachers, lawyers, civil servants,
and judges detained after the coup attempt. It
appears that the government’s amnesty for
convicted felons reduced the number of convicts in jail from 141,739 a year ago to 108,734
on the day the Justice Ministry stopped reporting.96
). Fear and betrayal in a police state
Constant encouragement of citizens to
spy on each other in the aftermath of the attempted coup of July
[
] has created
an environment which is inevitably inciting
social division. Such methods were promoted
96
Turkey Stops Publishing Data On Prison Figures Amid Mass Crackdown, (2017, March 31), http://stockholmcf.
org/turkey-stopped-publishing-data-on-prison-figures-amid-mass-crackdown/
97
G“len movement is also referred to as (izmet the Service Movement
98
Financial Times, Erdogan s informers: Turkey s descent into fear and betrayal (March 16, 2017), available at https://
www.ft.com/content/6af8aaea-0906-11e7-97d1-5e720a26771b
37
almost weekly basis, stories emerge of friends,
colleagues and even spouses reporting each
other for a catalogue of offenses […]. 99
As authoritarianism in Turkey deepens, the
army of volunteer informants grows. The Financial Times lists stories of an informant taxi
driver, teachers reported for speaking Kurdish
and accused of praising a “terror organization,” a man arrested for criticizing President
Erdogan while chatting in a park, academics
recorded and reported to the police by their
students.
The informants are induced and encouraged by record reward payments. As much as
TL 4,000,000 ($1,000,000) is on offer for the
capture of the most-wanted figures. The National Intelligence Organization (MIT) reports
that the number of people who went online to
inform on others almost doubled from 34,000
in
to ,
in
[…]100
Sabah’s Europe edition, a pro-government
daily, runs the “FETO report line” for its readers to report G“len Movement participants.
The Turkish press in general is replete with
stories of betrayal by friends, neighbors and
even within families. In October 2016, Haber-
turk newspaper reported that the police force
was overwhelmed by the number of calls to
their hotline, many of which were baseless,
rooted in personal grievances, and a waste of
police time.101
At the end of June 2017, during an event organized by the )�stanbul branch of his AKP to
mark Eid al-Fitr, the president called on people: Wherever you know of or find a member of FETO� [a derogatory term coined by the
Justice and Development Party (AKP) government and Erdoğan to refer to members of the
G“len Movement] you will report them to us.
If you do not inform us, you will be held responsible...We will hold those who divide the
Ummah to account.”102
As the witch hunt progresses the authorities are pursuing even people with very tenuous links to the social and business networks
of the G“len Movement. )ts informal, diffuse,
temporary and decentralized network structure and variety of relations with citizens and
user groups mean that it is easy to make accusations of affiliation — and hard to prove or
disprove.
The state of Turkey’s judicial system com-
The Most Wanted List and Awards by the Turkish Ministry of )nterior Affairs
Financial Times, Erdogan s informers: Turkey s descent into fear and betrayal (March 16, 2017), available at
https://www.ft.com/content/6af8aaea-0906-11e7-97d1-5e720a26771b
100
)d
101
)d
102
https://turkeypurge.com/erdogan-wherever-you-find-a-gulenist-you-will-report-them-to-us
99
38
pounds the dangers of spurious and unproven
accusations. Prosecutors and judges who reject or close cases are often branded terrorist
sympathizers and may even be accused and
arrested themselves for failing to proceed
with a prosecution for which there is little to
no evidence or sidelined and replaced with
loyalists.103
to the Hizmet Movement, the government
has been systematically detaining women on
coup charges even when they are pregnant
or shortly after giving birth. In few weeks in
July-August 2017, according to an incomplete
account on the phenomenon, at least 16 cases
were reported across Turkey.
In addition, children of individuals accused
of being close to the Hizmet Movement have
increasingly resorted to changing their last
names, in order for them not to be associated
with their parents [(izmet Movement] and
avoid, inter alia, discrimination, harassment
and pressure at school, in their neighborhoods
and beyond.104
J. (umiliation and terror against
marginalized groups
Lawyers, family members and human rights
activists have disclosed to human rights organizations serious allegations of discrimination
and ill-treatment of women during pregnancy,
childbirth and in particular the postpartum
period. Cases of discrimination and alleged
ill-treatment range from arrest of pregnant
women, women in labor taken into custody,
denial of medical services and detention/arrest of women during the postpartum period.
In an abhorrent attempt apparently to humiliate and degrade women perceived close
K. Treatment of the disabled,
elderly and sick
Persons with disabilities, elderly and the
sick have been disproportionally targeted, following the attempted coup of July 15, 2016,
and in its oppressive treatment of detained
people with disabilities the government is in violation of its obligations under Article 28 of the UN
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.105
Visually impaired journalist
C“neyt Arat, who was initially detained on July 21, 2016 over social
media posts that praised the G“len
Movement, was sentenced on February 22, 2017 to 6 years and 3
months for allegedly promoting a
“terrorist” organization and an additional one year, 10 months and
days for alleged [G“len] propaganda. On July 10, 2017 Mr. Arat
turned himself in to serve the sen-
Financial Times, Erdogan s informers: Turkey s descent into fear and betrayal (March 16, 2017), available at
https://www.ft.com/content/6af8aaea-0906-11e7-97d1-5e720a26771b
104
https://turkeypurge.com/imprisoned-journalists-children-changes-surname-amid-peer-pressure
105
https://www.un.org/development/desa/disabilities/convention-on-the-rights-of-persons-with-disabilities/
article-28-adequate-standard-of-living-and-social-protection.html
103
39
L. Arbitrary detention and arrest
The state of emergency into force since
July 2016 has removed the few remaining legal safety nets and brought arbitrary government decision-making to new unprecedented
heights. In the aftermath of the attempted
coup individuals are stripped of all legal recourse against arbitrary measures, based on
the denial of access to a lawyer during police
custody, prolonged pre-trial detention, the
criminalization of dissent and ill-treatment of
detainees.
Decree Law No.
, the first decree under the state of emergency increased the
maximum period of police custody from 4 to
30 days, which according to the government
will be limited to the duration of the state of
emergency. This measure not only violates
the European Convention on Human Rights,
but it also increases the risk of torture and illtreatment. In addition, Article 3 of Decree Law
No. 668 of 27 July 2016, entitled “Investigation
and prosecution procedures”, under which the
right of the suspect in custody to see his/her
lawyer may be restricted for five days upon the
decision of the public prosecutor, noting that
no statement should be taken during that time.
The government has increasingly imposed
restrictions on lawyers in visiting their clients
as well as the recording of the conversations
and seizure of documents pertinent to the
defense, measures which in practical terms
make the principle of undisturbed access to
legal counsel and a fair trial impossible. The
Government has provided no explanation on
the legitimacy of restriction of the right of the
suspect in custody to see his/her lawyer and
has so far failed to present any reasonable justification that would show the proportionality
of the need for the restriction.
Cüneyt Arat, visually impaired journalist
tence, after the prison sentence of February 22
was earlier upheld by the Gaziantep Regional
Court of Appeals. A letter by journalist C“neyt
Arat in October 2017 from a prison in Tarsus
Southern Turkey , reveals the difficulties he is
facing while trying to simply survive in prison,
mainly due to the fact that places of deprivation of liberty are not designed to address even
the minimal needs of disabled persons.
Ali Osman Karahan, a 87-year-old in custody in an Isparta prison for almost 15 months,
was given eleven day’s solitary confinement
for comforting other inmates by saying: “As
Said Nursi put it, you will be released if you are
not guilty.” The Isparta Prison’s disciplinary
board justified the penalty by saying Karahan
had made propaganda for a criminal group.106
Discrimination against members of marginalized groups, in particular the Hizmet Movement, is leading to the violation of their rights
to health, safety and human dignity. Numerous reports of denial of healthcare in medical
facilities across Turkey provide a deeply distressing picture of the extent of the exposure
of victimized individuals to degrading treatment, and verbal and physical violence.
https://turkeypurge.com/
106
-year-old-prisoner-gets-
-day-solitary-confinement-hoping-release-one-day
40
Lawyers themselves have been reluctant to
represent those accused of alleged links to the
coup for fear that they would be tainted by association or for being associated with the attempted coup if they did. In addition to extensive limitations, many lawyer’s associations
across the country have been shut down and
at least 287 lawyers are under arrest, while
detention warrants have been issued for 708
attorneys since the attempted coup.107
The sheer number of over 130,000 individuals taken into custody108 and detained
on remand and over 62,000 arrests109 since
the attempted coup with little or no clarity
about the charges, is highly disturbing. From
the number of detained persons, it is further
evident that reasonable suspicion, an essential requirement for the imposition of pretrial
detention, has not been present at every stage
of individual detention.
The disastrous consequences and the impact of the state of emergency on the Turkish
society as a whole are yet to be fully understood, as the measures taken under the state
of emergency are still ongoing. Based on the
review of cases brought to the attention of
many human rights and other organizations,
the deprivation of liberty has been imposed
in an unlawful and arbitrary manner - inconsistent with international standards set forth
in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
and relevant international legal instruments
accepted by Turkey.
M. Enforced disappearances
The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court clearly defines the enforced disappearance of persons” as meaning the arrest,
IAPL, Monitoring Committee on Attacks on Lawyers, available from: https://defendlawyers.wordpress.
com/2017/01/23/turkey-turkey-keeps-287-lawyers-under-arrest-as-part-of-post-coup-purge/
108
Source: TurkeyPurge (November 30, 2017), available at https://turkeypurge.com/
109
)d
107
41
Over the years, until March 2016 (last
visit by WGEID), the UN Working Group on
Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances
(WGEID) has transmitted to Turkey 202 cases of disappeared persons. 79 of them were
still outstanding as of March 2016. In the aftermath of the attempted coup, when thousands of individuals were detained, hundreds
of people went missing for sometimes weeks.
In monitoring and providing assistance on the
cases, the Journalists and Writers Foundation
was able to establish the whereabouts of many
of the disappeared, who mostly reappeared
weeks later in custody, with signs of torture
and ill-treatment.
The practice of enforced disappearances,
however, never ended and the reluctance by
authorities to investigate recent cases suggests that they are being perpetrated by individuals associated with the government or the
ruling party, who continue to act with complete impunity. In Turkey today, mysterious
broad daylight abductions of government opponents are probably the most terrorizing instrument of intimidation in particular against
members of the Hizmet Movement.111
detention or abduction of persons by, or with
the authorization, support, or acquiescence
of a State or a political organization, followed
by a refusal to acknowledge that deprivation
of freedom or to give information on the fate
or whereabouts of those persons, with the intention of removing them from the protection
of the law for a prolonged period of time.” In
international law, there is no exceptional circumstance, including a state of or a threat of
war, internal political instability or any other
public emergency, which can be used to justify
enforced disappearance. Moreover, covert and
forcible abduction of citizens from the territory of another state is a flagrant violation of
the sovereignty of the state concerned.
In July 2016, the Report of the Working
Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances on its mission to Turkey noted that: “Turkey has not come to terms with past enforced
disappearances in all relevant areas, namely
truth, justice, reparation, and memory of the
victims. There has been no comprehensive policy to address disappearances. Many families
do not know the truth about what happened to
their loved ones, there has hardly been a single
case of criminal responsibility or civil liability
for an act of enforced disappearance, there are
no reparation programs independent from the
compensation that may be awarded by a court,
nor any effective and accessible social or psychological support for families, and there is no
public memorial site or symbolic place for the
families - and for society as a whole - to remember the victims and pay tribute to them. This
lack of measures to address disappearances
results from a combination of factors: mainly
the lack of clear political will in all spheres to
seriously tackle the issue, combined with legal
and other obstacles.”110
Abductions all follow similar
patterns and have in common
most of the following:
1. Victims are members of opposition
groups stigmatized as terrorists or
traitors.
2. Victims have been purged after the attempted coup on allegations of having
links to the Hizmet Movement.
UN Human Rights Council, Report of the Working Group on Enforced or )nvoluntary Disappearances on its mission
to Turkey, July 27, 2016, Note by the Secretariat
111
See also: https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/08/03/letter-human-rights-watch-minister-gul
110
42
3. The authorities are reluctant or refuse
to investigate the abductions.
4. CCTV camera footage show that they
were forced to get to a black Volkswagen transporter van.
5. Most of the disappearances have taken
place in Ankara and Izmir.
6. Abductions point to a shadowy militia
group, SADAT and Turkish Intelligence
Agency.112
10. Cemil Koçak (engineer), missing since
June 15, 2017.
. U� mit (orzum employee of the Turkish Accreditation Agency (TURKAK)),
missing since December 6, 2017.
N. Torture and ill-treatment
Under the government crackdown on the
G“len Movement, detainees have been subjected to systematic and “barbaric methods
of torture – physical assault, sexual assault
(rape), nail extraction and anal penetration
with foreign objects – all of which are firmly
prohibited under international law.114
On October 16, 2016, the President of the
Progressive Lawyers’ Association (ÇHD), addressing the Ankara Bar Association’s General Assembly, called on lawyers to stand up
for all the alleged sympathizers of the G“len
Movement who are being systematically tortured.115 Former detainees, their relatives, the
media and human rights defenders have documented the use of all the following methods of
torture:
• Blunt force trauma, including severe
beatings
• Falaka beating the soles of the feet
• Sexual torture of all types, including
sexual torture (rape), anal penetration
with foreign objects, electrocution and
pressure on sexual organs
• Starvation, denial of water and medical
treatment
• Positional torture/suspension and
stress positions for up to 48 hours
• Verbal abuse and threats, including
A list of individuals missing since
July
can be found below:113
. Ayhan Oran )ntelligence Officer , missing since November 1, 2016.
. Mustafa O� zg“r G“ltekin employee of
the Competition Authority), missing
since December 21, 2016.
. (“seyin Köt“ce employee of the )nformation and Communication Technologies Authority), missing since February
28, 2017.
. Mesut Geçer )ntelligence officer , missing since March 26, 2017.
5. Turgut Çapan (Former employee of
Turgut O� zal University , missing since
March 31, 2017.
. O� nder Asan teacher , abducted on
April 1 and missing until May 12, 2017.
Ever since in custody.
7. Cengiz Usta (teacher), missing since
April 4, 2017.
. Mustafa O� zben lawyer , missing since
May 9, 2017.
. Fatih Kılıç teacher , missing since May
14, 2017.
112
http://www.platformpj.org/opinion-erdogans-muscles-game/
More detailed information on the missing individuals available at: http://stockholmcf.org/enforced-disappearences-in-turkey-2/
114
http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CAT/Shared%20Documents/TUR/INT_CAT_NGS_TUR_25838_E.pdf
115
http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CAT/Shared%20Documents/TUR/INT_CAT_NGS_TUR_25838_E.pdf
113
43
mock execution
• Palestinian hanging
• Electric shock
• Nail extraction
• Cold/high pressure water hosing
• Asphyxiation/suffocation
• Air-conditioning torture hot air conditioning during the day and cold at
night)
• Exposure to icy water
• Dripping molten plastic on the extremities and burns
• Sharp force trauma
• Reports of torture and ill-treatment
are emerging from almost all regions
of Turkey, from legal and illegal places
of detention, including prisons, police
stations, gymnasiums, sports centers,
warehouses, stables, abandoned buildings, gym salons, and other places where
individuals are being detained.
bul, as a group of people with belts and sharp
objects reportedly lynched six other soldiers.
The crowd also tried to throw the lifeless bodies of soldiers from the bridge, but reportedly
“abandoned that intention” as the police intervened.116
In its concluding observations for its report
on Turkey in June 2016, the United Nations
Committee against Torture stated: [...] Numerous credible reports of law enforcement officials engaging in torture and ill-treatment of
detainees while responding to perceived and
alleged security threats in the south-eastern
part of the country e.g. Cizre and Silopi . [ … ]
The Committee is further concerned at the reported impunity enjoyed by the perpetrators
of such acts (arts. 2, 4, 12, 13 and 16).117 Similar concerns were voiced in its Preliminary
Observations and Recommendations by the
United Nations Special Rapporteur on torture
and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment, Mr. Nils Melzer following his official visit to Turkey, from November
27 to December 2, 2016.118
The climate of impunity in the country was
legally “reinforced” with the promulgation of
the Decree-Law No. 667119 which states that
Legal, administrative, financial and criminal
liabilities shall not arise in respect of the persons who have adopted decisions and fulfill
their duties within the scope of this Decree
Law.”120 With a September [
] decree the
Government also dissolved the prison monitoring boards, evidently with the intention
of avoiding any allegation on torture and illtreatment making it beyond prison walls.
Further to granting impunity for public
officials, Decree-Law No.
issued on De-
O. )mpunity for serious violations of
international human rights law and
atrocity crimes
)mpunity [for serious human rights violations in Turkey] remains pervasive, in particular on allegations of torture and ill-treatment
against members of the military – even in case
of murder. [JWF is] concerned about the lack
of any investigation into the allegations of
torture, lynching and even beheading of unarmed soldiers who were surrendering in the
morning of July 16, as the attempted coup was
fading away. Graphic pictures circulated on social media show one soldier being beheaded
by a mob and his bloodied body on one of the
bridges crossing the Bosphorus strait in Istan-
Journalists and Writers Foundation, Post-Coup Turkey: State of Emergency, Torture and )mpunity, October 2016, p. 11-12
Committee against Torture, Concluding observations on the fourth periodic reports of Turkey CAT/C/TUR/CO/ ,
June 2, 2016, para 11
118
More information available from: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspxNewsID=209
76&LangID=E#sthash.eWFVrksA.dpuf
119
Published in the Official Gazette on July ,
120
Decree Law No. 667, Article 9
116
117
44
cember 24, 2017, extended that immunity to
civilians whether they have an official title or
not, and whether they have carried out official
duties or not”. The new provision121 permits
vigilantes to use violence against anyone who
opposes the government or anyone they claim
to suspect of opposing the government or of
having been involved in the attempted coup of
July 15, 2016 (or its continuation) and to go
unpunished thereafter. It is unclear from the
decree what is meant by “furthering the aims
of the coup”, so civilians who make revenge
attacks are now protected from punishment
even where there is little or no evidence of
due cause for the attacks.122
Immediately following the issuance of Decree 696, Turkey’s main opposition party123
stated that it would appeal the decree before
the constitutional court. The Ankara and Istanbul bar associations called the two decrees124 issued on December 24, 2017, “the
last two nails in the coffin of the law . Former
president Abdullah Gul, longtime ally of President Tayyip Erdoğan expressed concern at the
wording of the decree, adding that he hoped it
would be revised to prevent problems in the
future.
not have a right to life. He has repeatedly and
publicly discussed the idea of reinstating the
death penalty specifically for the members of
the Hizmet Movement.
This idea has been reinforced and encouraged by pro-government media. In July 2017
the Erdoganist Kanal7 TV advocated a range of
cruel execution methods which were last used
during the Ottoman era, including suspending
the accused by hooks piercing the abdomen.125
It suggested these would be appropriate for
G“len Movement participants.
The channel’s website posted an illustrated
article126 showing the seventeenth-century
methods it advocated and captioned it: “An
execution sample from the days of which the
decisions of execution were given immediately
without wasting any time with the processes
of investigation, interrogation and trial etc. to
execute those who revolted against the state.”
Kanal7.com added that those who rebelled
against the state were left to die in agony in
public.
P. Reinstatement of death penalty
President Erdoğan and his government
have gone to the extreme many times by declaring that Hizmet Movement members do
The paragraph reads in pertinent part: regardless of an official title or duties or the lack thereof, people who
played a role in the suppression of a failed coup attempt on July 15, 2016 and subsequent events and terrorist
activities will be exempt from criminal, administrative, financial and legal liability
122
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-turkey-security/turkish-lawyers-say-decree-grants-impunity-for-politicalviolence-idUSKBN1EJ0MW
123
Republican People’s Party (CHP)
124
A separate decree (decree 695) issued on December 24 dismissed 2,756 more individuals from their jobs, accusing them of links to terrorist organizations (637 from the Turkish armed forces, 350 from the general command
of gendarmerie,
from the Religious Affairs Directorate [Diyanet],
from the Justice Ministry and
from
the police). Decree 695 also provided for the closure of 7 associations, 7 foundations, 2 newspapers and a private
company
125
https://stockholmcf.org/pro-erdogan-media-hints-execution-for-gulen-sympathizers-through-impalement-oftorso-by-hooks/
126
See above
121
45
The stated intention by high-level officials to reinstate the death penalty in Turkey, targeting members of one particular
group is particularly troubling, mainly for
the following reasons:
1. The reintroduction of the death penalty is
incompatible with Turkey’s membership of the
Council of Europe and also contrary to the European Union’s Charter of Human Rights.
2. The state of emergency and the derogation
from the UN International Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the European
Convention for Human Rights (ECHR) cannot
serve as legal justification for the reintroduc tion of death penalty.
3. The Turkish judicial system currently
provides no guarantees whatsoever for due
process, fair trial and transparency. The three
crucial components of what constitutes a fair
trial, namely the defense, the prosecution and
the courts, have all collapsed in Turkey in recent years, turning the judicial system into
merely an extension of the political authority
that thwarts an effective defense and appoints
partisan and loyalist prosecutors and judges.
Dismissals of judges in particular have had an
adverse and devastating effect on the Turkish
judiciary, its independence and the effectiveness of the principle of separation of powers.
In the current circumstances, when thousands
of judges are detained and imprisoned (close
to one-third of judges and prosecutors), it is
inconceivable that the remaining judges could
reverse any measure declared under the emergency decree laws out of fear of becoming subject to such measures themselves.
4. Articles 6.2 (imposition of death penalty)
and 14.1 (equality before the courts and tribunals) of the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights clearly provide that the court
pronouncing a final judgment of the death sen-
tence must be competent and moreover; independent and impartial tribunal established by
law. A death sentence not rendered by such a
court would be a summary execution.
5. From the legal perspective, the reintroduction of capital punishment in Turkey is not
possible for the following reasons:127
•A
amendment to Article . of the
Constitution deleted a reference to capital punishment potentially being lawful during a state
of emergency. Therefore, capital punishment
has been abolished by the Constitution such
that its abolition cannot be revoked even in a
state of emergency.
• Turkey ratified without reservations EC(R
Protocols 6 and 13 as well as the Second Optional Protocol to the ICCPR, all of which are
non-derogable. Turkey has therefore permanently abolished capital punishment in peacetime and in wartime.
• Withdrawing from the EC(R Protocols
and 13 as well as the Second Optional Protocol
to the ICCPR is not legally possible since none of
the Protocols contain a withdrawal clause.
• Criminal law cannot be applied retroactively under Articles 15 and 7 of the ECHR, Articles
4 and 15 ICCPR (that would remain in place
even if Turkey left the ECHR system). Article 15
of Turkey’s Constitution also prohibits retroactive application of criminal law, including during a state of emergency.
Q. Lack of legal remedies
The plight of dismissed public sector employees is aggravated by the fact they have no
legal means by which to challenge their dismissal. So far, no court in Turkey has ruled that
it has the jurisdiction to review such dismissals
because they were not administrative decisions
but come under statute law as the names of the
plaintiffs were written in the law-decrees.128
127
https://www.ejiltalk.org/turkeys-derogation-from-the-echr-what-to-expect/
See (uman Rights Joint Platform,
Sayılı K(K ile kurulan O(AL komisyonu etkili bir hukuk yolu
mu? Kerem Altıparmak, January
, page - . Available at: http://www.ihop.org.tr/wpcontent/
uploads/
/ /%C %B nceleme-Komisyonu_O(AL.pdf p. -
128
46
The highest administrative court, the Council of State, also refuses to review the cases unless local administrative courts rule on them
first.129 The Constitutional Court has also ruled
that it does not have the jurisdiction to rule on
the constitutionality of the decrees, although
since
it has had the power to consider
individual applications.
The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has rejected all applications so far as
inadmissible on the grounds that applicants
have not shown that all domestic remedies
have been exhausted.131 The Venice Commission has determined that neither administrative courts nor individual application to the
Constitutional Court are available to public officials dismissed by Emergency Decrees132 and
recommended that the government should
establish an ad hoc commission to review the
State of Emergency measures.133 The Secretary General of the Council of Europe made a
similar recommendation, and an ad hoc subcommittee established by the Parliamentary
Assembly of the Council of Europe supported
the recommendation.134
To preempt the pointed criticism from the
Council of Europe of the relentless crackdown
on dissent in Turkey, the government issued
Emergency Decree 685,135 by which it established the State of Emergency Inquiry Commission136 and Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım
announced the names of its seven members
on May ,
.
See Bianet Danıştay Kararı: K(K ile )�hraç Edilenler )�dare Mahkemesine Başvuracak, October
. Available at
https://bianet.org/bianet/insan-haklari/
-danistay-karari-khk-ile-ihrac-edilenler-idare-mahkemesinebasvuracak
See Venice Commission opinion Venice Commission, Opinion on emergency decree laws 667-676 following the
failed coup of
July
, paras
. Available at: http://www.venice.coe.int/webforms/documents/default.aspx?pdffile=CDL-AD
-e
131
See European Court of (uman Rights, December
, A teacher dismissed by emergency legislative decree after the failed coup d’état did not exhaust domestic remedies http://hudoc.echr.coe.int/app/conversion/pdf?libr
ary=EC(R id=
filename=Decision% Zihni% v.% Turkey% - % dismissal%
of% a% teacher% by% emergency% legislative% decree.pdf
132
Venice Commission, Opinion on Emergency Decree Laws Nos.
Adopted Following the Failed Coup of
July
, CDL-AD
, para
133
Venice Commission, Opinion on Emergency Decree Laws Nos.
Adopted Following the Failed Coup of
July
, CDL-AD
, para.
ff
134
Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy Ad hoc Sub-Committee on recent developments in Turkey, Report
on the fact-finding visit to Ankara
- November
, AS/Pol
rev, para. ,
135
Emergency Decree K(K
can be found here http://www.resmigazete.gov.tr/eskiler/
/ /
- .htm
136
Article 2(1). The Commission is tasked to carry out an assessment of and render a decision on the following acts
established directly through the decree-laws under the state of emergency; a) Dismissal or discharge from the
public service, profession or organization being held office; b Dismissal from studentship; c Closure of associations, foundations, trade unions, federations, confederations, private medical institutions, private schools, foundation higher education institutions, private radio and television institutions, newspapers and periodicals, news
agencies, publishing houses and distribution channels; ç Annulment of ranks of retired personnel
129
47
137
http://www.cumhuriyet.com.tr/haber/turkiye/891088/OHAL_Komisyonu_ilk_kararini_verdi.html
http://silencedturkey.org/tag/disapperance
139
The Prime Minister’s Office , the Justice Ministry , The )nterior Ministry
and the (igh Council of Judges
and Prosecutors
140
Venice Commission, Opinion on Emergency Decree Laws Nos.
Adopted Following the Failed Coup of
July
, CDL-AD
, para
138
48
Decree-Law
, which the Turkish government issued on August
,
, alters
12 critical laws, on state intelligence services,
judges and prosecutors, the personnel of the
Turkish Armed Forces TSK , military academies and foreigners. The decree law introduces a disturbing ‘novelty’, which provides
for the possibility of extraditing or exchanging
foreigners sentenced/detained in Turkey with
other countries upon the request of the foreign
minister and approval of the president. If implemented, this will in practical terms enable
the government of Turkey to use hundreds of
foreigners unlawfully deprived of their liberty
in Turkey for diplomatic bargaining.
On September ,
, only a month after
the issuance of the Decree-Law
, president
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan admitted that Turkey is
holding Pastor Andrew Brunson US citizen
hostage in hopes that the United States hands
over Mr. Fethullah Gülen, a Muslim cleric living in Pennsylvania, whom the Turkish government has accused, in absence of any evidence, for orchestrating the attempted coup
of July
. 142
Similar proposals have been also previously extended by Turkey to Germany143 and
other countries whose nationals have been
wrongfully deprived of their liberty; with the
ill-intentioned objective of future ‘exchanges’,
in return of thousands of political and other
dissidents who have recently fled persecution
in Turkey. The irresponsible actions of the
government of Turkey, the hostage-taking of
hundreds of foreign citizens in order to compel other states to deport thousands of Turkish citizens who have fled persecution, represents a blatant violation of the right to life
and the liberty and security of person, as set
sands of individuals affected by the measures
of the State of Emergency, the Commission
seems designed to serve the immediate interests of the government of Turkey and of
the ECt(R in that, first of all, because of the
numbers concerned and the restrictions on
the Commission’s own access to information,
the Commission’s own operations will inevitably be drawn out over many years, thus delaying applications to the ECtHR and sparing
it the corresponding workload. Secondly, this
lengthy process will buy a great deal of time
(estimated at between two and ten years) for
the Turkish government before it meets any
national or international legal repercussions
for its current violations of the rule of law. In
this projected interim period, applicants will
continue to suffer all the social and economic
consequences of being labeled as terrorists
and guilty until proven innocent.
The State of Emergency Inquiry Commission clearly fails to establish a prompt, independent and impartial appeal procedure, and
it should be replaced. This will only occur if
the ECtHR begins to accept dismissal cases,
which it should do forthwith.141
R. Foreign citizens in custody or at
risk of deprivation of liberty
Turkish nationals are not the only targets
of the relentless crackdown on dissent. Hundreds of foreign nationals have been wrongfully deprived of their liberty in the Republic
of Turkey in the aftermath of the attempted
coup of July ,
.
Amnesty )nternational, No end in sight, Purged public sector workers denied a future in Turkey May
, p.
See for example: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-turkey-cleric/turkeys-erdogan-links-fate-of-detained-us-pastor-to-wanted-cleric-gulen-idUSKCN C )K
143
Another example on the same topic: https://www.turkishminute.com/
/ / /merkel-calls-on-turkey-torelease-jailed-german-journalist-yucel/
141
142
49
out, inter alia, in the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights, the International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights, the 1951 Refugee
Convention and the European Convention on
Human Rights.
Active preparations and actions by the
government further violate the obligations of
Turkey under the International Convention
Against the Taking of Hostages (1979),144 to
which it is a state party since 1989. Put simply, the government of Turkey has already
committed the offense of taking of hostages
hostage-taking within the meaning of the
Convention.145 Furthermore, the issuance of
the Decree-Law
clearly demonstrates
that taking of foreign hostages is part of a wider policy of the government to compel other
states to unlawfully deport political and other
dissidents and that wrongful arrests of foreign
citizens in the future will only intensify.
It is not clear whether this new policy of
hostage-taking has had an effect on the recent
surge of abductions and expulsions of Turkish
nationals from several countries; however, it
is particularly troubling that a country might
be eventually compelled into bargaining the
freedom of their citizens. )n the event that any
bargaining should be successful, the Turkish
government would only be motivated to seize
more and more foreign citizens, and then invent their supposed terror links.
PART VI
THE WITCH-HUNT OF
TURKISH NATIONALS ABROAD
he December
corruption scandal
and the failed coup attempt of July 15,
only served as catalysts for an
unprecedented crackdown on dissent targeting citizens from all walks of life, in particular opponents of AKP intentions in promoting
its political Islam agenda through education,
both in Turkey and abroad.
)n
, four days after it was revealed
that the police were investigating corruption
among members of his family and his cabinet,
Erdoğan claimed that the investigations were
part of an international conspiracy against
the state and threatened to make those who
are behind this treason and espionage pay for
this. 146
On September ,
, the Turkish president addressed the UN General Assembly in
New York stating: ) would like to call on all
our friends to take the necessary measures
against the Fethullah Terrorist Organization in
their own countries for the future of their own
people and their well-being . (e further told
the United Nations that the Movement was
present in
countries, posing a national security threat’ to all of them. This terrorist organization is in a deep mental heresy of subduing
the whole world, far beyond Turkey . 147
T
144
Entered into force in 1983
Article . Any person who seizes or detains and threatens to kill, to injure or to continue to detain another person hereinafter referred to as the hostage in order to compel a third party, namely, a State, an international
intergovernmental organization, a natural or juridical person, or a group of persons, to do or abstain from doing
any act as an explicit or implicit condition for the release of the hostage commits the offense of taking of hostages
hostage-taking within the meaning of this Convention
146
Erdoğan: )�ninize gireceğiz didik didik edeceğiz We will come into your lairs and we will search every nook and
cranny cnnturk.com December ,
http://www.cnnturk.com/turkiye/erdogan-ininize-girecegiz-didikdidik-edecegiz
147
See e.g. Al Arabiya, Erdogan at UN urges global action against preacher , available at:
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/
/ / /Erdogan-at-UN-urges-global-action-against
preacher-.html
145
50
made
contacts and
telephone calls to
foreign officials about the G“len Movement
as part of the Turkish government’s systematic defamation campaign. As many as 2,789
written or video interviews were given to the
international press by the Turkish missions
and institutions under the direct directives of
Erdoğan abroad to defame the movement. The
same missions and institutions have also held
267 press conferences and published 646 articles and letters for the same purpose. Also,
a website 15.07.gov.tr in the English language
was launched for the defamation campaign.
Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency T)�KA , an effective instrument of radical
)slamist policies of Erdoğan regime abroad,
has been also organizing events to shape public opinion about the Gülen Movement, at its
offices in countries spread across Africa,
Asia and Latin America.
Following the coup attempt in
,
Erdoğan and his government hugely accelerated the black propaganda and hate speech
campaign against the Gülen Movement that
they had been promulgating since the corruption investigations in
and have worked
to convince the international community of
the Turkish government’s own perception of
the movement.148
According to a Foreign Ministry source,
from July
to November ,
Turkish
diplomats met around
ministers, ,
foreign members of parliament, in addition to
nearly ,
senior officials globally to explain
the so-called FETO� structure and its vast network abroad. The same source revealed that
Turkish diplomats also contacted international media outlets ,
times, wrote
articles and letters, and organized
news
149
meetings on the same issue.
A report by Anadolu Agency pointed out
that until July
,
, more than
of
over ,
propaganda and defamation talks
targeting the Gülen Movement were allegedly made with foreign presidents or prime
ministers. Foreign Minister Mevl“t avuşoğlu
A. Turkish schools and
teachers abroad
The (izmet Movement has been a phenomenon in Turkish society since the
s and its
participants are well known for their efforts
to promote secular education, dialogue and
contribute to the alleviation of poverty, especially in the poorest parts of the country. The
(izmet Movement believes that education is
key to solving social and economic challenges,
both in Turkey and across the globe.
With the breakup of the Soviet Union in the
early
s, inspired by the values shared by
the Movement, philanthropic businessmen
were encouraged to contribute in establishing
quality educational institutions in Central Asia,
with a view of addressing the existing challenges in the region. Along with providing quality
Source: Anadolu Agency, see https://stockholmcf.org/turkish-govt-makes-over-talks-abroad-to-defamegulen-movement/
149
http://www.worldbulletin.net/africa/
/turkish-foundation-takes-over-feto-schools-in-chad
Source: Anadolu Agency, see https://stockholmcf.org/turkish-govt-makes-over-talks-abroad-to-defamegulen-movement/
148
51
Pakistani students of the private PakTurk )nternational Schools and Colleges protest in Karachi in
November
Photo: AFP
education, schools constantly focused on charity/humanitarian activities and dialogue – all
three (izmet Movement’s pillars of work.
Within a short period of time, with the
assistance of philanthropic businessmen,
(izmet inspired schools were established and
began to operate in the new Turkic republics
in the territory of the former Soviet Union.
Through collaboration between business
people, university students and local Diaspora
groups (izmet Movement ideas and schools
spread initially through Europe, Australia and
North America and later Africa, Asia and finally South America.
Highly enthusiastic, altruistic and well-educated young Turkish teachers graduated from
the best universities in Turkey and elsewhere
were key to the establishment and later success of the schools. Making decisions mostly in
favor of less material gains and working sometimes in very difficult security environments;
local populations witnessed how determined
and committed teachers were providing quality education, even during times of political crisis or violent upheavals in their countries.
Slowly and owing to enormous and constant efforts the (izmet schools phenomenon
became a global socio-cultural entity that constructed a universal language of peace, coin-
52
ciding with the culture of peace initiative of
the United Nations. In addition, they served as
cultural and economic bridge between Turkey
and the host country, long before any honorary, diplomatic, or other official presence of
Turkish government institutions were present in the respective countries. By doing so,
entire populations came in contact with Turkey for the very first time through the (izmet
inspired teachers and afterwards Turkish
businessmen. Overwhelmingly the experience
had been a very positive one.
Turkey as a nation took great pride on the
many achievements and services provided by
Turkish teachers abroad, and rightly so. Turkish governments regularly praised and appreciated the significant role which the schools
played in contributing to the national wealth,
along with, more importantly the image of
the country and the Turkish citizens abroad.
As recently as
even then-Prime Minister
Erdoğan and his ministers regularly praised
the schools in their official visits to the respective countries.
The above policy, however, ended abruptly
following the public exposure of the December
,
corruption scandal that implicated
family members of AKP officials, including family members of then-Prime Minister Erdoğan.
Following the scandal, the government labeled
the allegations of corruption – a conspiracy
to topple the government, and actively and
zealously embarked upon a mission to discredit, criminalize and eventually liquidate
the (izmet/G“len Movement in Turkey and
abroad, for its perceived alleged role in the corruption investigations.151
The (izmet-affiliated schools in particular
and other institutions came under immense
pressure ever since the Turkish government
declared (izmet the public enemy number
one in Turkey and abroad. Since
the government pursued a persistent, coordinated and
systematic campaign against (izmet schools in
the country and abroad by claiming that these
schools were an extension of a parallel state –
a term coined by Erdoğan to label individuals
and civil society groups that refused to participate in government wrongdoings.
A morally corrupt and at least criminal
campaign of intimidation of Turkish teachers, kidnappings and alleged murders, either
directly by intelligence operatives or through
criminals in foreign countries materialized
during
, before the attempted coup even
took place. There were even reports allegedly
demonstrating that the Turkish National Intelligence Organization M)�T orchestrated the
assassination of five teachers in an attack on
a school bus in Mogadishu in March
.152
The July 15 attempted coup only served
to intensify the Turkish government’s efforts,
which started using the failed coup as a pretext
to shut down thousands among the best secular
schools in Turkey, none of which had any record
of criminal activity. Turkey’s government further mobilized the nation’s diplomatic, econom-
Pakistani students of the private PakTurk International
Schools and Colleges stage a protest in Islamabad
against the government’s ordered deportation of
teachers. (Photo: Aamir Qureshi/AFP via Getty Images)
ic and political power to hunt down members
of the (izmet Movement abroad, asking foreign
governments to jail and deport their members,
as well as shut down their institutions, including high-performing science schools. Maarif
Foundation is the organization established and
tasked by the Turkish government to encourage
foreign governments to seize Turkish educational foundations operating in respective countries, possibly targeting enterprises run by individuals close to (izmet Movement. )n the event
seizures are successful, through different legal,
administrative and practical actions, the Maarif
Foundation would be offered as an alternative
foundation with the authority to purchase, take
over and rent properties.
Since the attempted coup Turkey’s National
)ntelligence Organization M)�T has increasingly taken action to find, capture and even
kill (izmet Movement participants working
in institutions abroad. Abductions and alleged
extrajudicial executions of (izmet Movement
The (izmet Movement has denied having any role, either in the corruption scandal or its investigation. Former
Turkish police officer, (useyin Korkmaz, who fled Turkey in
with evidence from the
Turkish corruption investigation, testified [December ,
] during the )ran sanctions case in the Federal District Court in
New York that he was not a member or sympathizer of the (izmet Movement. See for more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/iran-sanctions-trial-judge-slams-foreign-conspiracy-theory/
/ / /ce fed e
- e -b e - c
f
c _story.html
152
https://www.turkishminute.com/
/ / /two-turkish-teachers-among-five-killed-gun-attack-mogadishu/
151
53
sympathizers orchestrated by the M)�T have
previously taken place in Malaysia in October/
December
and again in May
, as
well as in Somalia, Myanmar, Thailand, Nigeria, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Sudan and Afghanistan among other countries.
the Gülen Movement in Europe and Asia. The
Diyanet said it gathered intelligence and prepared reports on G“lenists in, Abkhazia, Germany (three reports from Dusseldorf, Cologne
and Munich), Albania, Australia (two reports
from Melbourne and Sydney), Austria (two reports from Salzburg and Vienna , Azerbaijan,
Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and (erzegovina,
Bulgaria two reports from Plovdiv and Sofia ,
Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Georgia, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Switzerland, )taly, Japan, Montenegro, Kazakhstan,
Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Kosovo, Lithuania, Macedonia, Mongolia, Mauritania, Nigeria, Norway,
Poland, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan,
Tanzania, Turkmenistan and Ukraine. Photos
of individuals allegedly linked to the Gülen
Movement were also included in some of the
Diyanet’s files. G“len-linked schools, businesses, foundations, associations and media
outlets were also included in the
reports
prepared from the intelligence gathered from
mosque officials, religious coordinators and
religious services counselors. 155
Documents obtained by Deutsche Welle in
February
reportedly reveal a larger effort by Diyanet in Germany and Europe to report back to Ankara on the Gülen Movement.
Among the reports are ones written by religious attachés at Turkish diplomatic missions
in Munich, the Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland and Belgium. )n all, the reports identify
dozens of individuals, associations, businesses
and schools with supposed affiliations to the
global network of the Gülen, who denounced
the coup attempt and denied any involvement.
Fethullah Gülen called for an independent international body to investigate the coup at-
B. Diyanet network153
The vast network of Diyanet abroad has
been turned into a sophisticated intelligencegathering agency. A confidential document of
September ,
from Diyanet instructed
Turkish missions and religious representatives abroad to profile (izmet Movement
expatriates in their respective countries.154
Those perceived as (izmet sympathizers
in many countries have been subject to violence by mosque members, and others have
not been allowed to pray in Diyanet funded
mosques. Many of the Turkish imams abroad
have openly admitted being involved in intelligence gathering activities. Hundreds of imams
are currently under investigation in several
European countries. Many of them have been
recalled and returned to Turkey. Increasingly
imams of Diyanet funded mosques also incite
worshippers to spy on followers of the (izmet
Movement and affiliated institutions, including schools.
On December ,
, (“rriyet Daily News
reported that Turkey’s Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) has gathered intelligence via imams from 38 countries on the activities of suspected followers of the U.S.-based
)slamic preacher Fethullah G“len […] The
Diyanet briefed a parliamentary commission
formed to investigate the thwarted coup and
revealed its intelligence activities regarding
153
Diyanet is the Turkey’s state-run Directorate for Religious Affairs
The document was quoted as stating: We request that you send a detailed report about all FETO� /PDY networks,
activities, educational institutions [kindergartens, primary and secondary schools, faculties, dormitories, etc.]
NGOs, aid organizations, human resources, associations that host cultural activities, etc., to disiliskiler diyanet.
com.tr by September ,
155
(urriyet Daily News, December ,
, available at: http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/diyanet-gathers-intelligence-on-suspected-gulenists-via-imams-in- -countries154
54
Photo Credit : Alliance/dpa/D. Naupold
Fethullah G“len, according to reports in particular imams at one of Germany’s largest )slamic organizations have gathered intelligence
at the behest of Turkey’s official religious authorities .157 According to documents obtained
by Deutsche Welle
imams and a deputy
coordinator’ in the two states provided information to the Turkish religious attaché at the
consulate in Cologne on at least
G“len affiliated institutions and 45 people with alleged
ties to the G“len Movement. NRW’s ministry
of education has identified five people on the
list as state-employed teachers .158
)n February
, German police raided
apartments of four men, said to be clerics ,
suspected of carrying out espionage on behalf
of the Turkish government on alleged Gülen
supporters.159 )n April
Deutsche Welle
reported that the German )nterior Ministry said […] it is questioning
individuals
for allegedly spying on followers of an exiled
preacher accused of being responsible for the
attempted coup in Turkey in
.
tempt and uncover the many absurdities that
the Erdoğan-led government has failed to explain so far (see: http://jwf.org/request-foran-international-commission-to-investigateturkeys-failed-coup-of-july- th/.
In other parts, the memos describe activities organized by the Movement.156 One
section from the Salzburg, Austria, memo
describes how a G“len-affiliated group successfully infiltrated the Turkish community
in the name of cultural integration’ by organizing swimming classes for women. Austrian
authorities in
awarded the organization
an ‘Integration Award’ for its efforts in the
field. )t is unclear how the religious attachés
gathered the information, or what exact role
Turkish imams played. The documents from
Vienna and Salzburg show Diyanet officials
have worked with AT)B, a similar organization
to D)T)B in Austria, to monitor and counter
the activities of the G“len Movement .
Deutsche Welle reported in January
that )mams in Germany have informed Turkish authorities of alleged supporters of cleric
Deutsche Welle, Turkish imam spy affair in Germany extends across Europe, http://www.dw.com/en/turkishimam-spy-affair-in-germany-extends-across-europe/a157
Deutsche Welle, Turkish imams spied on teachers at German state schools,
January
, available at: http://
www.dw.com/en/turkish-imams-spied-on-teachers-at-german-state-schools/a158
Deutsche Welle, Turkish imam spy affair in Germany extends across Europe,
February
, available at:
http://www.dw.com/en/turkish-imam-spy-affair-in-germany-extends-across-europe/a159
Deutsche Welle, Germany investigates possible anti-Gulen spies,
February
, available at: http://www.
dw.com/en/germany-investigates-possible-anti-gulen-spies/a-37557872
156
55
cause of the enormous scale of political persecution. The exact numbers of victims of the
abuse of )nterpol Red Notices by Erdoğan’s regime is not known, but it is definitely one of the
biggest challenges for Interpol itself to prove
if the CCF [Commission for the Control of )nterpol’s Files] is able to prevent or stop such
scale of abuses. At the moment, it seems that
the CCF is not in control of the situation. Therefore, civil society participation will be crucial to
the reform of Interpol in order to protect those
at risk of arrest under such misuses of the Red
Notice system, now and in the future.166
On July ,
, pro-government Turkish
media reported that Interpol removed Turkey from its database after Ankara uploaded a
list of ,
suspected followers of the U.S.based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen. The
decision to suspend Turkey’s access to the
database of wanted individuals came after the
C. Abuse of INTERPOL systems
Under Article 2 and 3 of its Constitution,
)NTERPOL must act in the spirit of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and is not
permitted any intervention or activities of a
political, military, religious or racist nature.
However, on occasion, member states have
abused or attempted to abuse )NTERPOL and
its Red Notice system for political purposes.
In its report in February161
the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
(PACE) PACE noted with great concern the
dramatic fivefold increase in the number of
Red Notices between
and
, reaching
,
from ,
. )n
a total of ,
Red Notices were issued.162 Among the most
oppressive states abusing Interpol’s notice
system to persecute dissidents are Russia, Belarus, Turkey, Venezuela, Sri Lanka, )ndonesia,
Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan and )ran.163
)n August
, German Chancellor Angela
Merkel warned Turkey about its abuse of Interpol to have Mr. Dogan Akhanli, a German author, detained on a Turkish warrant when he
was in Spain.164 Back in October
, the extensive abuse of )NTERPOL red notices by Turkey prompted the European Union to call on
)NTERPOL to prevent abuse of Red Notices.165
The crackdown by Turkish authorities on
Gülen Movement participants abroad through
Interpol’s mechanism is unprecedented be-
Report by Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Abusive Use Of The Interpol System: The
Need For More Stringent Legal Safeguards”, February ,
, available at: http://website-pace.net/
documents/
/
/
- PRESSajdoc-EN.pdf/d a
ec
-b
e c bd
161
Id
162
Report by Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Abusive Use Of The Interpol System: The
Need For More Stringent Legal Safeguards”, February ,
, available at: http://website-pace.net/
documents/
/
/
- PRESSajdoc-EN.pdf/d a
ec
-b
e c bd
163
See for example: https://www.fairtrials.org/abuses-of-interpols-systems-must-be-stopped/
164
http://www.dw.com/en/spain-releases-dogan-akhanli-german-author-detained-on-turkish-warrant/a165
European Union calls on )NTERPOL to prevent abuse of Red Notices, available at: https://www.fairtrials.org/
european-union-calls-on-interpol-to-prevent-abuse-of-red-notices/
166
Anita Porta, Vocal Europe, Monday talk with Lyudmyla Kozlovska on the misuse of INTERPOL by autocratic regimes,
September ,
, available at: http://www.vocaleurope.eu/monday-talk-with-lyudmyla-kozlovska-on-themisuse-of-interpol/
56
July
coup attempt. Access to the database
had been allegedly reported to be blocked for
almost a year, despite protests from Ankara.167
If true, this would have been the single largest scale abuse of the system ever, given that
the overall number of warrants in
was
12,787 Red Notices from all countries. On July
[
] )nterpol issued a statement, originally released to BBC Turkey, stating that “Interpol supports each and every one of its 190
members as part of security cooperation benefits. No access block has been implemented in
Interpol’s databases, including for those who
have international warrants in Turkey.”
As more and more notices are expected
to be issued from the Turkish government, it
is vital not only that those notices are better
vetted, but also that those who are subject to
Red Notices have access to transparent appeal
processes that allow them to challenge them.
In sum, international mechanisms like INTERPOL, mechanisms designed to protect individuals, must not be exploited by an oppressive
regime to make the world an inherently unsafe place for those who dare to expose corruption and human rights abuses.
divided into four sections and 87 articles, covers judicial regulations, provisions on media
service providers, domestic security and miscellaneous provisions.
One very pernicious measure contained in
Decree-Law
is the capacity to revoke the
citizenship of individuals abroad, who do not
respond within
days to judicial summons
for crimes of terrorism or crimes against the
state . If they cannot be reached, in due course
the Justice Ministry will issue a return home
notice in the Official Gazette. )f they do not respond to that call within three months, there
will be a process through which they will lose
their citizenship.
The intended objective of the Decree-Law
in revoking citizenship in a discriminatory manner and as a method to sanctioning
political dissent constitutes arbitrary deprivation of nationality, explicitly prohibited by the
Turkish Constitution and international human
rights law. The provisions of the Decree-Law
are also contrary to the objectives set out
in the UNHCR Global Action Plan to End Statelessness
–
.
Pursuant to the provisions of the DecreeLaw
, the Turkish Justice Ministry has twice
published a return home notice in the Official
Gazette; on June ,
concerning
one
hundred thirty) individuals and on September
,
concerning
ninety-nine individuals - who are currently abroad. If the individuals whose names appear in the respective lists
have not responded to the call within three
months, their citizenship could have been already revoked through a Government decision,
upon proposal from the Justice Ministry.
Another deeply concerning matter since the
attempted coup has been the denial of consular services to Turkish nationals around the
world. )n addition, from May
to February
D. Arbitrary deprivation of
nationality and denial of
consular services
On January ,
, the Turkish Government adopted three new decree-laws pursuant to Turkey’s state of emergency (DecreeLaws No.
,
and
. Decree-Law
,
167
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/interpol-denies-reports-of-turkeys-removal-from-database-after-listing-wanted-gulenist-names-
57
, the Journalists and Writers Foundation
has been able to document at least 877 cases168
(in 26 countries) where Turkish consulates
have declined to provide consular services to
Turkish citizens – including an alarming number of 111 cases of denial of passports and nationality IDs for newborns in 15 countries.
E. Detentions, abductions and
expulsions
)n June
, during a live broadcast on
TGRT news channel, journalists Cem K“ç“k
and Fuat Uğur called for the assassination of
(izmet Movement participants living outside
Turkey. Uğur approvingly quoted )�smail (akkı
Pekin, former Intelligence Chief of the General Staff, who has said, Those from FETO� 169
who have betrayed and run abroad should be
exterminated and that is the responsibility of
the Republic of Turkey. K“ç“k, known for his
attacks on government critics on social media,
suggested that Justice and Development Party
AKP supporters abroad could carry out the
assassinations and that the Turkish National
)ntelligence Organization M)�T has the authority to carry out killings abroad.
The number of cases not reported to the Journalists and Writers Foundation is believed to be higher
An acronym for the so-called G“lenist Terror Organization , frequently used by Erdoğan and pro-Erdoğan media
networks to refer to the (izmet Movement
168
169
58
)n December
,
, during a live TV
broadcast on TGRT, the same individuals intensified the threats. K“ç“k suggested that
Turkish intelligence should kill family members of jailed Gülen Movement followers in order to turn inmates into operatives. Speaking
along with his program partner Uğur, K“ç“k
also stated that Israeli intelligence agency
MOSSAD had killed family members of Palestinian, Jordanian and Egyptian inmates to turn
them into MOSSAD operatives, suggesting that
the National )ntelligence Organization M)�T
adopt similar techniques to use on followers of
the G“len Movement. On December ,
,
the Diyarbakır Bar Association on Wednesday
filed criminal complaints against pro-government journalists Cem K“ç“k and Fuat Uğur for
inciting crime and praising crime.
)n June
Turkey’s National )ntelligence
Organization M)�T established an Office for
(uman Abduction and Executions - )n Turkish nsan Ka rma ve nfaz B“rosu . The Office
is reputed to have the authority to conduct
‘operations’ abroad to abduct or murder government opponents, mainly (izmet sympathizers, living and working in foreign countries. The Turkish media has reported that the
Office will initially operate in Sudan, Morocco,
Pakistan, Azerbaijan and )raq and has already
been allocated a five-million-US-dollar budget, including funds for payments to various
criminal and other illegal groups to achieve its
objectives .
CASE 1
Country: Afghanistan
Treatment: Abduction and Arbitrary Detention
Victim(s): Yılmaz Aytan, Önder Akkuşçi, Yu-
nus Demirci, Sami Yavuz, Masood Wardak,
Date: December 12, 2017
On December ,
, at around : a.m.
local Afghan time : a.m. GMT, December
,
, state agents acting on behalf of the
Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, arbitrarily abducted and deprived of their
liberty Mr. Yılmaz Aytan, Mr. O� nder Akkuşçi,
Mr. Masood Wardak afghan national and Mr.
Yunus Demirci on their way to their respective
workplaces in the schools administered by the
Afghan-Turk Cag NGO. Mr. Sami Yavuz, a Turkish businessman was detained a few hours later [ : a.m. local Afghan time], on December
,
, in front of main gate in Sharak-E- Aria
residence, beside main road Kabul, Afghanistan. The victim was on its way to his workplace, the restaurant he manages in Kabul.
The Afghan authorities (intelligence services) had allegedly a list of 19 Turkish nationals
subject to imminent detention. At around :
p.m. of the same day (Tuesday, December 12,
, - intelligence officers all male in
civilian clothes), in absence of any search warrant, attempted to detain Turkish teachers and
principals at the Girls (igh School. Due to fierce
resistance by parents and students, intelligence
officers could not enter the dormitory and were
eventually forced to abandon their plans.
Students and teachers of Afghan-Turk
Schools sent a delegation to the Attorney General’s office on December to file a complaint
about the illegal actions of the security forces
against the school. On December ,
, after being held for five days incommunicado in
an undisclosed location, there of teachers were
released, but Mr. Yilmaz Aytan and Mr. Sami Yavuz have been kept under house arrest due to
the pressure of the Turkish government.
Illustrative Country
Information on Detentions,
Abductions, and Expulsions
https://www.turkishminute.com/
/ / /
diyarbakir-bar-files-criminal-complaints-againstkucuk-ugur/
59
tions of his status as an asylum-seeker; however this information could not be verified. Their
whereabouts and the medical and other situation regarding the members of Aydoğmuş family remain unknown.
CASE 2
Country: Albania
Treatment: Arbitrary Detention,
Asylum Seeker
Victim(s): Yasir Aydoğmuş, Nermin
Aydoğmuş, 8 and 10-year-old children
Date: October 8, 2017
CASE 3
Country: Angola
Treatment: Arbitrary Detention, Imprisonment
Victim(s): İbrahim Gökhan Karadöl, Aishan
Tushdevi
Date: March 21, 2017
)n mid-February
, the government of
Angola decided to close the Colégio Esperan a
Internacional Coespi-Luanda, Angola and to
deport all of the Turkish teachers and other
staff (66 individuals in total), allegedly based
on what the government described as national security grounds .
On March ,
, Turkish national )�brahim
Gökhan Karadöl and Georgian national Aishan
Tushdevi, allegedly with links with the (izmet
Movement, were sentenced to long prison
terms in Angola on terrorism-related charges.
They were legal brokers for legitimate travel
business companies; Mirza Tur based in Turkey and the Angolan travel company Eurostral
Limitada.
Turkish academic Yasir Aydoğmuş, his
spouse Nermin Aydoğmuş and the couple’s
and -year-old children were detained in Albania on October ,
as they were trying
to cross to Italy. They were released on a bail
on October , however Mr. Aydoğmuş was redetained the same day based on an arrest warrant filed through )nterpol by the Turkish government demanding his extradition. Human
rights organizations and the European Parliament protested his detention with the Albanian
authorities, urging his immediate release. Yasir
Aydoğmuş revealed before the court that he
and his family members had requested protection at the moment of detention, however their
request was disregarded. On October ,
he reapplied, this time in written, seeking asylum and protection in Albania. His request was
registered and the court ruled for the transfer
of the family to an asylum-seeker detention
center near the capital [Tirana], pending the
determination of the refugee status.
Ever since, media reports indicate that in
November
, the Court ruled for his rearrest, since he had allegedly breached the condi-
60
Airport. Mr. Şent“rk was re-detained on June
and arbitrarily deported to Turkey without any due judicial process. )n August
,
Azerbaijan reportedly also detained a senior
opposition figure [Faig Amirov, an aide to Ali
Kerimli, the leader of the Popular Front opposition party] for allegedly possessing books
by US-based preacher Fethullah G“len. Mr.
Amirov was subsequently arrested on suspicion of inciting religious hatred. According to
his lawyer he allegedly faced up to five years
imprisonment. 172
CASE 4
Country: Austria
Treatment: Espionage and
Blacklisting
Victim(s): Gülen/Hizmet sympathizers and
organizations
Date: March 21, 2017
)n February
, Deutsche Welle reported
that Peter Pilz, a Green party lawmaker had
claimed that Turkish diplomats were enlisting
Turkish religious organizations in Austria to
undermine Gülen supporters there. MP Peter
Pilz revealed that he and his team was working on documents to show the practice was
even more widespread, spanning some
countries across Europe, Africa and Asia. 171
CASE 5
Country: Azerbaijan
CASE 6
Country: Belgium
Treatment: Arbitrary Detention, Expulsion
Victim(s): Taci Şentürk
Date: June 7, 2017
Treatment: Espionage and
Blacklisting by Diyanet
Victim(s): Gülen/Hizmet Movement
participants
Date: December 2016
)n December
, Belgian Justice Minister
Koen Geens ordered security and intelligence
units to monitor mosques operated by the
Turkish Religious Affairs Directorate, or Diyanet, because of reports that the Diyanet had
asked imams to inform on Belgians of Turkish
origin suspected of being Gülen Movement
participants.173
Mr. Taci Şent“rk, a Turkish teacher working in
Baku, Azerbaijan was detained on June ,
and his deportation was stopped by UNHCR
officials at Baku (eydar Aliyev )nternational
Deutsche Welle, Germany investigates possible anti-Gulen spies,
February
, available at: http://www.
dw.com/en/germany-investigates-possible-anti-gulen-spies/a-37557872
172
Al Arabiya, Azerbaijan detains dissident over books by Erdogan’s foe, August ,
, available at: https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/
/ / /Azerbaijan-detains-dissident-over-books-by-Erdogan-s-foe.html
173
Source: TurkeyPurge, available at: https://turkeypurge.com/france-germany-belgium-go-after-spying-threats-againstturkish-expats-abroad
171
61
CASE 7
Country: Bulgaria
CASE 8
Country: China
Treatment: Right to Leave
Victim(s): 50 Turkish citizens
Date: August 10, 2016 – October 12, 2016
Treatment: Expulsions
Victim(s): Abdullah Büyük / 3 Police oficers,
1 Reporter, 1 Teacher, 1 Academic, 1 Businessman
Date: August 10, 2016 – October 12, 2016
Since the beginning of the G Summit, the
Chinese authorities have practically banned
more than
Turkish citizens and members
of their immediate families (approximately
individuals in total from leaving the
country, without providing any explanation,
either orally or in a written form. The abovementioned individuals and their legal representatives have in addition made efforts to
contact various Chinese government authorities and agencies,175 in order to learn the reason for their obstruction, but have ever since
not received any substantial information related to their cases.
The above situation has resulted in almost
devastating psychological, financial and other
consequences for the (izmet sympathizers, as
several of them have been practically separated from their family members living in Hong
Kong, China; while the businessmen have suffered considerable financial losses, witnessing simultaneously their reputations steadily
declining. Later, the situation was reported as
resolved by the Turkish citizens in China.
On August
,
, the Turkish citizen
Abdullah B“y“k was handed over to Turkish
authorities, even though during
a court
ruled twice that B“y“k was not to be extradited as he could be facing political oppression in
Turkey. Moreover, neither Bulgaria’s Ombudsperson nor the Bulgarian (elsinki Committee were informed of the expulsion, with the
Interior Minister admitting that the procedure
was not strictly followed. )n extraditing Mr.
B“y“k, Bulgaria became the only EU member
state to extradite an alleged supporter of the
Gülen Movement to Turkey.
On October ,
, seven individuals, including three dismissed police officers, a reporter of a confiscated newspaper, a teacher,
an academic and a small business owner were
detained and then handed over to Turkey by
the Bulgarian authorities.174
Source: https://turkeypurge.com/police-officers-academic-journalist-detained-while-fleeing-massive-witchhunt-in-turkey
175
)ncluding the Shanghai Office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China and the Shanghai )mmigration Agency
174
62
CASE 9
CASE 10
Country: Georgia
Country: Gabon
Treatment: Arbitrary Detention, Asylum
Treatment: Arbitrary Detention, illegal trans-
Seeker
fer across international boundaries
Victim(s): Osman Özpınar, Ibrahim Akbaş,
Adnan Demirönal, Nesibe Özpınar, Fikriye Akbaş,
Darya Demirönal, 7 children
Date: March 15, 2018
Victim(s): Mustafa Emre Çabuk
Date: Date: May 24, 2018
Mustafa Emre Çabuk, Principal of Demirel
College’s in Tbilisi was detained by Georgian
police on May ,
, after a brief visit by
Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım to
Georgia. Çabuk was allegedly accused of ‘supporting a terrorist organization’. Dozens of
protesters rallied in front of the Georgian government’s chancellery in the capital, Tbilisi,
to demand his release and voice support for
the professor who faced extradition to Turkey.
Activists, NGO officers, and Black Sea University students and teachers handcuffed themselves in support of Mustafa Emre Çabuk.176
After several human rights groups, including
Amnesty International’s Georgia branch and
Transparency International urged authorities not to extradite him, Georgian authorities
temporarily halted the extradition process in
July
, to only resume it a month later. Earlier in
the Georgian government also revoked the license of another school affiliated
with the G“len Movement in Batumi. Georgian
On March ,
, the Gabonese government detained Osman O� zpınar, )brahim Akbaş
and the French national (useyin Serce in Libreville. Adnan Demirönal was detained in
the beginning of April
, while Mr. (useyin
Serce was released, re-detained and released
again within few days. Turkish nationals were
held incommunicado and without access
to their lawyers, with little, if any clarity on
charges or allegations against them. On April
,
their spouses Nesibe O� zpınar, Fikriye
Akbaş and Darya Demirönal and all seven
children of the three couples were taken into
custody following coordinated actions by Gabonese and Turkish authorities and immediately transferred to the Libreville airport, where
they were forced to board a plane headed to Istanbul, Turkey. Osman O� zpınar, )brahim Akbaş
and Adnan Demirönal were arrested on arrival, while women and children were released.
Additional information available at: https://turkeypurge.com/?s=georgia
176
63
officials also detained Turkish businessman
Sinan Saraç, allegedly for his links to the G“len
Movement. The National Center for Education
Quality Enhancement (NCEQE) also cancelled
Demirel College authorization, in Tbilisi on
August ,
.
CASE 11
Country: Germany
Treatment: Espionage, Blacklisting
Victim(s): Turkish citizens in Germany
Date: August 2016
)n August
, the German Die Welt cited
an official of the German government who
spoke on condition of anonymity, claiming
that nearly ,
people spy on the Turkish
community in Germany for Turkish intelligence.177 )n January
German federal and
regional justice ministers stopped cooperating
with Turkish judicial authorities on criminal
matters on the grounds that Turkey was misusing their cooperation process for political
purposes: Ankara has used the pact [a
agreement between Germany and Turkey] to
prosecute Turkish citizens living in Germany
who have insulted the president, with German
courts hearing testimony from the suspect
and witnesses on Turkey’s orders .178
were subject to push-backs from Greece, even
though they had already applied for asylum
within Greek territory.
On June ,
, non-commissioned officer
(alil Kumcu, Assistant Professor Fatih )�lkaya,
teachers Yılmaz Erdoğan and Fethullah atal,
Mr. Mustafa Can, his wife Mrs. Hatice Can and
their four children were pushed-back from
Greece into Turkish territory. From the ten individuals detained by Turkish gendarmerie on
June ,
, Kumcu, Can and atal were later
arrested in Turkey, while the cases of )�lkkaya
and Erdoğan are still pending. (atice Can and
her four children were released, under judicial
supervision.
CASE 13
Country: Indonesia
CASE 12
Country: Greece
Treatment: Arbitrary Detention, Expulsion
Victim(s): Mustafa Kenel, 4 Turkish citizens
Date: December 16, 2017
Treatment: Arbitrary Detention, Expulsions
Victim(s): Murat Çapan, Ali Erkan Ataç,
Süleyman Sivri, Halil Kumcu, Fatih İlkaya, Yılmaz
Erdoğan, Fethullah Çatal, Mustafa Can, Hatice
Can, 4 children
Date: May 24, 2017 / June 2, 2017
)n the beginning of December
, upon
request from the Turkish government, the
Indonesian authorities issued detention warrants for five individuals, over their alleged
links to the G“len Movement. Mustafa Kenel
was detained together with four other Turk-
On May ,
, Mr. Murat apan editor
in chief Nokta magazine closed in Turkey ,
Mr. Ali Erkan Ataç and Mr. S“leyman Sivri
Source: Die Welt, available at http://www.dw.com/en/report-turkeys-mit-agency-menacing-germanturks/a178
Politico, Germany to stop cooperating with Turkey’s judiciary, January ,
, available at: https://www.politico.eu/article/germany-to-stop-cooperating-with-turkeys-judiciary/
177
64
ish citizens by the )ndonesian authorities,
after reportedly a list of ten individuals was
handed over to the Indonesian government by
the Turkish government. While the other four
individuals were later released, Kenel was
deported to Turkey, on December
,
.
Unconfirmed reports indicate that Kenel later
appeared testifying in the )�stanbul’s Bakırköy
Courthouse.
• Being the owner of a closed hospital.
According to the contents of the request by
Turkey, the pretended crimes were allegedly
committed on July ,
, the day of the
attempted coup; however, from January
Dr. Bolel was residing in Kazakhstan and did
not travel to Turkey ever since. He was employed in a private hospital in Almaty and obtained resident status in Kazakhstan. Contrary
to the ruling by the Almaty District Court, one
week after the initial decision, the Appellate
Judicial Board decided to authorize the extradition arrest to extradite for 12 months Dr.
Kayahan Bolel to Turkey. Following legal action in Kazakhstan and an individual submission with the UN human rights treaty bodies,
Dr. Bolel was finally able to leave Kazakhstan
and join his family in Europe.
CASE 14.1
Country: Kazakhstan -1
CASE 14.2
Country: Kazakhstan -2
Treatment: Arbitrary Detention
Victim(s): Kayahan Bolel
Date: February 2017
Disappearance
Treatment: Enforced and Involuntary
Victim(s): Enver Kilic, Zabit Kisi
Date: September 16, 2017
)n February
Kazakh authorities, arbitrarily detained Dr. Kayahan Bolel, a distinguished physician from Kutahya, Turkey. Acting upon request from the Kutahya Attorney
General’s Office Turkey , the Kazakh authorities arrested Dr. Bolel at his home in the city
of Almaty, Kazakhstan. The charges pressed
against Dr. Bolel by the Turkish authorities
were the following:
• Depositing money in a Bank Asya account,
a Turkish bank officially under government
control.
• Using a messaging app that is available
for download on the android store and the internet, downloaded and used by hundreds of
thousands of people across the world.
• (elping people in need, providing scholarships for students and donating money during the Muslim holiday Eid-al Adha, something
representing a religious duty.
On September
,
, Mr. Enver Kilic
and Mr. Zabit Kisi were not allowed to board
a plane in Kazakhstan heading back to Kirghizstan, because their passports were allegedly cancelled. They were thereafter abducted from the plane by an unknown group
Enver Kilic and Zabit Kisi were abducted from
Almaty Airport, Kazakhstan
65
of people and according to Turkish media
were subject to unlawful deportation to Turkey. There is no information on their whereabouts and their medical and other conditions ever since.
vealed that in the month preceding the trial,
on a daily basis he had asked for evidence from
his counterparts in Turkey on the matter. According to the prosecutor, despite repeated assurances, no evidence ever reached him until
the hearing of November ,
.179
The extradition request from Turkey to
Kosovar authorities published in a Kosovo
newspaper Gazeta Express on November
,
, in relevant part provides an insight
on the nature of evidence the Turkish government is using to deport hundreds of dissidents from abroad. Out of a 5-page document, in 2-3 paragraphs in the end of page
3, the document refers to Mr. Toksoy and his
supposed crimes. 181 )t reads: The General
Directorate of Consular Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with its communication
No.
/
of December ,
, informs that the suspected
individual Uğur Toksoy has responded with
loyalty to the aforementioned organization
[(izmet Movement]. On the basis of the investigation it results that Uğur Toksoy is the head
imam of the armed terrorist organization in
the geographic region (continent) Republic
of Kosovo; he leads the FETO/PDY dependent institutions in this country; accumulated
funds, from these institutions are transferred
in the accounts of the organization, under the
disguise of interreligious dialogue have made
possible their activities in this country. On
January
,
, the First )nstance Criminal Court No. 2 in Hatay issued a detention/
arrest order for the suspect. Pursuant to the
documentation subject to investigation, it can
be noted that investigative proceedings are
ongoing.
CASE 15.1
Country: Kosovo -1
Treatment: Arbitrary Detention, Asylum
Seeker
Victim(s): Uğur Toksoy
Date: October 2, 2017
)n September
, a list of twenty-five
(25) names of Turkish nationals sought for deportation were allegedly handed over to Kosovo authorities by the Turkish government. Mr.
Uğur Toksoy, an employee of the Atmosfera
Educational Foundation in Kosovo was the
first to be detained on October ,
. (e was
released on bail on November ,
and in
absence of proof of any wrongdoing the prosecutor was finally forced to drop the charges
against Toksoy, on December ,
. )n the
aftermath of the hearing the prosecutor re-
Ugur Toksoy, an employee of the Atmosfera
Educational Foundation
Zaman Macedonia
, Prokuroria Speciale e Kosovës tërheq kërkesën për ekstradimin e shtetasit turk Ugur
Toksoy, Available from: http://www.zaman.mk/al/ballkan/
-prokuroria-speciale-e-kosoves-terheq-kerkesen-per-ekstradimin-e-shtetasit-turk-ugur-toksoy-video.html
Available here in Albanian: http://www.gazetaexpress.com/lajme/si-po-i-ben-hyzmet-pa-kushte-kosova-erdogan-it-gylenistet-po-arrestohen-pa-asnje-deshmi-dokument-456445/
181
Mr. Toksoy has been accused of membership in an armed terrorist organization.
179
66
Only a few days prior to the actual kidnapping (March 29) the head of the Special
Prosecution of the Republic of Kosovo SPRK
Chief-Prosecutor rejected the extradition demand from Turkey as groundless. As a result,
the perpetrators, intelligence agencies of both
countries, with assistance from the Kosovo police and the Turkish embassy (which served as
a detention center for the abducted) resorted
to kidnapping and immediate illegal and clandestine transfer to Turkey. The Interior Minister and the Head of the Counterintelligence
Agency of Kosovo were sacked the next day
March ,
.
CASE 15.2
Country: Kosovo -2
Treatment: Abduction, Illegal transfer across
international boundaries
Victim(s): Mustafa Erdem,
Yusuf Karabina, Kahraman Demirez,
Cihan Özkan, Hasan Hüseyin Günakan,
Osman Karakaya
Date: March 29, 2017
CASE 16
Country: Madagascar
Treatment: Coniscation of Passport, Face
Deportation
Victim(s): 60 Turkish teachers,
businessmen and their family members
Date: March 2017
In the early morning hours of March 29,
, in coordinated illegal actions in several
cities across Kosovo, intelligence agencies of
Turkey and Kosovo, as well as the Kosovo police abducted and immediately deported the
following Turkish nationals working for educational institutions allegedly linked to the
(izmet/G“len Movement:
1. Mr. Mustafa Erdem - General Director of
Mehmet Akif College
. Mr. Yusuf Karabina – Deputy Director,
Mehmet Akif College
. Mr. Kahraman Demirez - Director of Gjakova/Djakovica Branch of Mehmet Akif College
. Mr. Cihan O� zkan – Biology teacher, Mehmet Akif College
5. Mr. Hasan Hüseyin Günakan – Chemistry
teacher, Mehmet Akif College
. Prof. Osman Karakaya – Turkish medical
doctor visiting on a tourist visa
)n March
, passports of
Turkish
teachers, businessmen and their family members in Madagascar were confiscated without
any reason. There is no further information
whether they continue to be under imminent
threat to be deported to Turkey. Turkish citizens have applied for protection with the United Nations and followed the necessary procedures. There is also no information whether
their applications have been approved. Five
Turkish citizens whose passport expired and
newborn children without passports had repeatedly applied to the Turkish Embassy, with
their requests being rejected.
67
No details were released on the abduction of
Mr. Aslan, while CCTV recordings show that
Mr. Turgay was abducted by five men in plain
clothes immediately after he exited his car in
a parking lot, forcing him to enter one of their
cars. The location of their detention is not
known yet, however the police stated they are
in police custody.
Mr. )�smet O� zçelik
, came under attack
by four unknown individuals182 on December
,
, in his apartment in Kuala Lumpur.
The unknown assailants tried to handcuff
and forcibly transfer him to the premises of
the Turkish Embassy, allegedly claiming that
his passport was no longer valid. O� zçelik was
then detained without a court order and spent
days in Sungai Buloh Prison. (e was released on January ,
, after being granted refugee status by UN(CR. O� zçelik was rearrested on May ,
with no information on
which grounds. UNHCR Malaysia contacted by
family members has replied that it cannot do
anything in this case. He was deported in May
along with Turgay Karaman and )hsan
Aslan and arrested at arrival, with the three of
them appearing handcuffed in Turkey.
)n a May ,
letter to the victims’ lawyers in Brussels, the UN (uman Rights Committee urged Turkey to take all necessary
measures to confirm the whereabouts of the
detainees and to officially inform the committee, their families and lawyers.183
CASE 17
Country: Malaysia
Treatment: Abduction, Detention,
Arrest, Expulsions
Victim(s): Alettin Duman, Tamer Tıbık,
Unknown Person, Turgay Karaman, Ihsan Aslan,
İsmet Özçelik,
Date: October 13, 2016 / May 2, 2017 /
December 13, 2016
On October ,
three individuals allegedly linked to the (izmet Movement were
abducted in Kuala Lumpur and subsequently
deported to Turkey, as follows:
• Alettin Duman abducted, deported on
October 13 and arrested)
• Tamer Tıbık abducted, deported on October 13 and arrested)
• Unknown Person abducted, deported on
October 13 and arrested) – The Turkish Foreign Minister announced citizens as deported from Malaysia, but the identity of the third
individual is not known.
Turkish citizens Turgay Karaman and )hsan Aslan were abducted during simultaneous raids in Kuala Lumpur on May ,
.
182
The unknown individuals did not show any ID, even after being repeatedly requested
https://www.turkishminute.com/
/ / /video-un-urges-turkey-to-grant-access-to- -gulen-followersdetained-in-malaysia/
183
68
• Ferhat Erdo an moved to Morocco back in
as an investor in the construction sector.
There he incorporated the Umran company
in Casablanca, Morocco, which produces, imports and sells construction materials. He was
detained on April ,
in front of his children, at the Casablanca Mohammed V Airport,
while traveling to Germany from Morocco on
valid passport and necessary entry visa. No
explanation or reason was given for his detention. At the time of detention he was under
UNHCR protection.
• Mustafa Onder, a professor by profession,
moved in Tetouan, Morocco back in
to
work in a private school. He was detained on
July ,
following a detention warrant by
Turkey.
• Aydin Elmas, a businessman by profession,
was detained on July ,
in Tetouan, Morocco and thereafter transferred to Rabat to
appear before the court. His access to the lawyer and the UNHCR is limited. His health conditions are have already deteriorated, since
Mr. Elmas is diabetic (needs to use insulin),
has undergone spinal cord and surgeries.
Mr. )smet Bakay and Mr. Ferhat Erdoğan
were detained on March
and April ,
respectively. No explanation or reason has
been provided for their detention and they
were not accused of any wrongdoing in Morocco. The Government claims that all the
members have participated to the attempted
coup, even though it is easily verifiable that
several of the four individuals were not in Turkey at the time of the attempted coup. Other
accusations include:
• Working as a professor in a school affiliated with the Gülen Movement
• (aving a bank account at Bank Asya a
legally operating bank until its closure by the
government)
• (aving donated to the charity organization Kimse Yok Mu’, until its closure the biggest aid organization in Turkey.
CASE 18
Country: Morocco
Treatment: Detention, Arrest
Victim(s): Ismet Bakay, Ferhat Erdoğan,
Mustafa Onder, Aydin Elmas
Date: March 27, 2017 / April 9, 2017 / July 26,
2017 / July 28, 2017
On January ,
, the Minister of )nterior
stated that - )nvestigations into the institutions of the Mohamed al-Fatih Group linked
to Fethullah Gülen have revealed that the
schools were spreading the ideology and
ideas of Gülen Movement, ideology and ideas
which contradict the educational system and
religious principles of Morocco. In view of the
failure to comply with the warnings issued by
the Ministry of Education to remedy the recorded shortcomings, it was decided to close
all the schools belonging to this group within
a maximum period of one month. The schools
in Morocco affiliated with the G“len Movement were closed by the Moroccan Ministry of
)nterior on February ,
.
Extradition to Turkey on baseless grounds
has been requested for the following Turkish nationals under UN protection: (1) Ismet
Bakay,
Ferhat Erdoğan,
Mustafa Onder
and (4) Aydin Elmas. Spouses and family
members of some of these individuals have already been granted refugee status in different
European countries.
• )smet Bakay is a mathematics teacher and
he graduated from Balikesir University northwestern Turkey . (e first worked at Balıkesir
Fırat Anatolian (igh School and Euphrates Elementary School before moving to Morocco
along with his family, on February ,
,
due to psychological pressure and fear of persecution [in Turkey], based on perceived affiliation with the (izmet Movement. At the time
of detention in Morocco, on March ,
,
Mr. Bakay was under UN(CR protection.
69
• (aving a prior subscription to the daily
Zaman’, once the newspaper with the biggest
circulation in Turkey
• Being a member of international commerce organization TUSKON’
• Providing scholarships to poor students
The
agreement on extradition into
force between Turkey and Morocco clearly
states that political crimes do not constitute
a basis for extradition. Yet, the Moroccan Supreme Court gave a favorable opinion for the
extradition of the above individuals to Turkey.
Following the favorable opinions of the Moroccan Supreme Court, in June
the lawyer for the victims lodged a petition with the
UN Committee against Torture (CAT), aiming
to ensure that the Kingdom of Morocco does
not extradite the individuals at risk, but instead upholds its human rights obligations
under the relevant international treaties it is
currently a state party. As an interim measure,
the Committee against Torture has asked the
government of Morocco not to extradite the
individuals at risk, who are still in custody, until it adopts an opinion on any individual case.
with a local flight security officer. Mr. Partal informed Mr. Sokmen that his passport was
cancelled and he could not travel to Bangkok,
Thailand without any documents, evidence or
proof. In the meantime, Mr. Sokmen missed his
Air Asia flight FD
to Bangkok, Thailand. At
the end of the day, Mr. Sokmen was allowed to
travel to Thailand, where he was detained at
the airport in Bangkok and flown to Turkey.
He was arrested at arrival.
UN Human Rights for South-East Asia expressed grave concern over the deportation
by Myanmar - via Thailand - of Turkish national Muhammet Furkan Sokmen, and strongly
urged authorities not to deport those deemed
at risk upon their return to Turkey.185
CASE 19
Country: Myanmar & Thailand
Treatment: Expulsions (Airport)
Victim(s): Muhammet Furkan Sokmen
Date: May 24, 2017
CASE 20
Country: Netherlands
On May ,
, the Sokmen family184 was
travelling from Myanmar to Thailand on valid
passports and necessary visas. They arrived
at the airport, passed the security checkpoint
without any problems, and waited to board Air
Asia flight FD
. While waiting for the flight
at Gate no.
that was scheduled to depart at
: , Mr. Oral Partal, police attaché from the
Turkish Embassy in Myanmar arrived at Gate
Treatment: Espionage, Blacklisting
Victim(s): Hizmet Movement participants
Date: May 24, 2017
The Stockholm Center for Freedom has reported a rapid rise in the Netherlands in attacks on civil society organizations, media
organizations, educational institutions, busi-
184
Mr. Muhammet Furkan Sokmen, Mrs. Ayse Sokmen and Ms. Sibel Sokmen (3-year old daughter)
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-myanmar-turkey-politics/u-n-expresses-grave-concern-over-myanmar-thaideportation-of-turkish-national-idUSKBN N GX?il=
185
70
key’s embassy in The Hague was conducting
intelligence activities. This led to a number of
scandals. It was understood that the Dutch Religious Affairs Foundation asked 145 mosques
in the country to draw up profiling lists and
sent these lists to Religious Affairs Counsellor
Yusuf Acar in The (ague. Some victims interviewed by SCF [Stockholm Center for Freedom] stated that based on these profiling lists,
Acar banned certain people from entering
mosques and that these notices were hung on
the doors of mosques .191
On September
,
a Turkish businessmen, owner of fast food chain Halal Fried
Chicken, was murdered in Amsterdam over his
alleged links to the (izmet Movement.192 On
December ,
Oğuzhan Erkuş, a -yearold supporter of the Justice and Development
Party AK Party , who threatened to kill Mehmet Demirözcan
, a sympathizer of the G“len
Movement who live in the Netherlands’ Tilburg
city was sentenced by a Dutch court. Erkuş was
imposed a fine by the Breda court for sending threatening and insulting messages to the
educator, Mr. Mehmet Demirözcan and the appeal court of S-(ertogenbosch affirmed the
sentence on December ,
. Erkuş was sentenced to
hours of park and street cleaning;
however if he commits the same crime within 2
years, he will be given extra hours of penalty
and
euros fine.
nesses, health-care facilities and individuals
affiliated with the (izmet Movement.186
Specifically, the report highlighted that
People were forced to cancel their subscriptions to newspapers affiliated with the (izmet
Movement and stop sending their children to
the schools that are linked to the movement.
There was increased activity of profiling, targeting and threatening people affiliated with
the (izmet Movement via social media and
newspapers supported by the ruling AKP and
its extensions in the Netherlands, 187 as well as
stone throwing, violence and setting building
on fires of businesses affiliated to the G“len
Movement. A former imam and a person close
to the (izmet Movement 188 was attacked and
badly beaten a few days after the attempted
coup in Turkey in July
, journalists working mainly for the Zaman (ollanda newspaper
and the Dutch language Zaman Vandaaf newspaper were harassed and threatened, another
journalist received death threats.189
According to the report 175 complaints
were filed with the Dutch police resulting in
detentions but no arrests. It was further reported that )n December
, it turned out
that the Religious Affairs Consultancy of Tur-
Stockholm Center for Freedom, Erdogan’s long arm in Europe: The case of The Netherlands, February ,
,
available at: http://stockholmcf.org/wp-content/uploads/
/ /Erdogan’s_long_arm-in_Europa_The_case_of_
the_Netherlands_ . .
.pdf, p.
187
Id, p. 12
188
Id, p. 15
189
Id, p. 21
Id, p. 24/25
191
Id, p.
192
https://stockholmcf.org/a-turkish-businessman-killed-in-amsterdam-over-his-alleged-links-to-gulen-movement/
186
71
visit to Pakistan on November ,
, the
Pakistani government canceled Turkish teachers’ valid visas and ordered the teachers and
family members approximately
individuals) including women and children to leave
Pakistan within three days.
Terrorized by its own government and under distress in Pakistan, the Turkish teachers
were given protection from the UNHCR and
granted temporary stay by Pakistani Courts
against coercive measures, including deportation to Turkey. Since November
however, the government of Turkey intensified its
efforts to forcibly and illegally repatriate the
teachers. Recently, the Pakistani government
disregarded the decisions given by Pakistani
courts and the protection granted by the UNHCR for the teachers at risk.
On September
,
, Pakistani law
enforcement agencies abducted Mr. Mesut
Kaçmaz, Mrs. Meral Kaçmaz and their two
daughters from their apartment in Lahore.
The Kaçmaz family was held incommunicado
for three weeks, before forcibly and illegally
transferred to Turkey on October
,
.
Mesut and Meral Kaçmaz are under custody
and held quasi-incommunicado.
Turkish teachers remaining in Pakistan
are harassed and detained daily, subjected to
abuse, inhumane, and degrading treatment;
prompting Pakistani courts to order the government stop their harassment and place police officers in front of residences. )n addition,
Turkish teachers have their passports cancelled, their children born stateless, and face
revocation of their national citizenship. Turkish teachers and their families face precarious
living, health, and other conditions. Finally,
they are also subjected to financial, economic
and other hardships.
CASE 21
Country: Pakistan
Treatment: Abduction, arbitrary detention,
illegal transfer across international boundaries
Victim(s): Mesut Kaçmaz, Meral Kaçmaz,
Huda Nur Kaçmaz, Fatma Huma Kaçmaz
Date: September 26, 2017
The Kacmaz Family who was abducted from Pakistan on
26 September 2016.
PakTurk International Schools and Colleges were first established in
in Pakistan
and now include 28 schools in the cities of Islamabad, Lahore, Quetta, Karachi, Peshawar,
Rawalpindi, Multan, (yderabad, Khairpur
and Jamshoro. PakTurk Schools are considered Pakistan’s best educational institutions
regarding the quality of education, characterbuilding, and educational facilities.
PakTurk Schools recruited Pakistani teachers along with
teachers and staff members who in mid-November
were Turkish nationals. Ahead of the Turkish President’s
72
CASE 22
Country: Romania
Treatment: Passport seizure, risk of expulsion
Victim(s): Soner Cesur, Enes Kanter
Date: March 25, 2017 / May 21, 2017
Enes Kanter, Knicks NBA Player
On March
,
, Romanian police
seized the passport of Mr. Soner Cesur, a
Turkish businessman with investments in
Romania upon a demand made by the Turkish government. Cesur’s passport [valid until
] was seized by police at (enri Coanda
Airport as he was attempting to fly to Warsaw. In a written document193 handed over to
Mr. Cesur, the police cited in that the passport
was seized upon an order from the Romanian
Foreign Ministry. The police also said Cesur’s
passport would be sent to the Turkish Embassy in Bucharest.
)n May
, Mr. Enes Kanter, an NBA
basketball player from Turkey was stopped
at Henri Coanda Airport, after Turkey allegedly cancelled his passport, due to his political views and being a supporter of the Gülen
Movement. Mr. Kanter was eventually allowed
to travel to London and from there back to the
United States, on May ,
.195
Imams from Turkey’s Religious Affairs Directorate (Diyanet) have also provided intelligence on people sympathetic to Turkish
Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen and the movement he inspired in Romania, including in
schools, kindergartens and one university
that are part of the Lumina Educational )nstitutions, which have been active in Romania
since
. The same source further stated
that the report by The Black Sea news website
reported that There are tough allegations that
the Turkish Embassy is blocking the release of
vital documents to Turkish citizens and cancelling their passports - forcing them to stay in
Romania, and ‘blackmailing’ parents into pulling their children from Gülenist schools.196
CASE 23
Country: Saudi Arabia
Treatment: Arbitrary Detention,
Expulsions
Victim(s): Faruk Yanık, Ercan Orucu, Mehmet
Altan, İrfan Bayar, Usame Türkyılmaz, Huseyin
Avni Güngören, Yunus Beşir Birol, Beşir Başoğlu,
Aziz Erten, Adil Veli Kartal, Şener Yurek, 15 family members
Date: January 2017
)n January
, passports of
Faruk
Yanık,
Ercan Orucu,
Mehmet Altan,
)�rfan Bayar,
Usame T“rkyılmaz,
(useyin Avni G“ngören,
Yunus Beşir Birol
Beşir Başoğlu,
Aziz Erten,
Adil Veli
Kartal and
Şener Yurek were confiscated, reportedly due to the perceived affiliation
with the (izmet Movement. Fearing torture
and ill-treatment in the hands of the Turkish
For more please see: https://www.turkishminute.com/
/ / /romanian-police-seize-passport-upon-turkeys-demand/
194
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-39987275
195
http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/
/enes-kanter-oklahoma-city-thunder-back-united-states-newsconference-monday
196
Stockholm Center for Freedom, Diyanet )mams Spied On G“len Sympathizers )n Romania, April ,
, available at:
https://stockholmcf.org/diyanet-imams-spied-on-gulen-sympathizers-in-romania/
193
73
government due to their perceived affiliation
to the Movement, Turkish nationals and their
family members applied for protection from
the UNHCR. No protection measures from the
UNHCR were however granted to address the
urgent human rights and humanitarian situation of the Turkish citizens at risk.
On March ,
, they were taken in custody by the Saudi police in four different cities
and were scheduled for expulsion to Turkey
on April ,
. Terrorized by its own government and under unlawful distress imposed
on them in the country they have genuinely
contributed for as long as
years in different
fields - the Turkish citizens placed high hopes
on the United Nations to avoid deportation to
Turkey, torture and ill-treatment.
Following several postponements, they
were finally deported to Turkey on May ,
, along with their family members. They
were detained at arrival and no information
is currently available on their whereabouts or
health condition.
CASE 24
Country: Spain
Treatment: Arbitrary Detention
Victim(s): Hamza Yalçin
Date: August 3, 2017
Swedish journalist of Turkish origin, Mr.
(amza Yalçin, was detained on August ,
,
in El Prat airport in Barcelona, where he was
vacationing. Mr. Yalçin faced extradition to
Turkey on the request from Turkey via Interpol. )f extradited to Turkey, Yalçin would have
faced a sentence of up to 22 and a half years
in prison on charges of belonging to a ‘terrorist group’ T(KP-C and of insulting’ the Turkish president in his magazine, Odak. 197 After
almost months in detention, (amza Yalçin
was finally released on September ,
by
198
a ruling of the Spanish National High Court.
CASE 25
Country: State of Qatar
Treatment: Arbitrary Detention, Expulsions
Victim(s): 45 Turkish citizens,
Zekeriya Özşevik, Derya Özşevik
Date: June 24, 2017
On June
,
forty-five
Turkish
nationals were deported from Qatar to Turkey, most of them taken in custody at arrival in
)stanbul or released on judicial control. While
the names and whereabouts of the Turkish nationals deported from the State of Qatar and
then detained in Turkey on June 24 are still
to be confirmed, the Journalists and Writers
Foundation has learned that one of the detainees is the Turkish academic Zekeriya O� zşevik
and his wife Derya O� zşevik – charged on terrorism’-related charges and joining an ‘armed
terrorist group’. It is not known how many of
the deported Turkish nationals were children.
Reporters without Borders, Journalist still held in Spain under Turkish request to Interpol, September
https://europeanjournalists.org/blog/
/ / /spain-must-release-journalist-hamza-yalcin/
197
198
74
,
CASE 26
Country: Sudan
Treatment: Arbitrary Detention, Expulsion
Victim(s): Y.K., Memduh Çıkmaz
Date: November 21, 2016 / August 3, 2017
Y.K., an accountant moved to Khartoum after receiving a job offer on January ,
from a Turkish company. (e moved to Khartoum from Turkey on March ,
with his
wife and 3 children and worked for approximately
months in the Turkish company. )n
the aftermath of the attempted coup of July 15,
in Turkey, Y.K. who has no prior criminal record, reportedly learned about a political case launched against him back in Turkey
over his alleged involvement with the (izmet
Movement and the attempted coup, while he
was physically in The Sudan. His employment
was subsequently terminated and he was detained by the Sudanese authorities on November ,
. Y.K. was given no information on
charges and alleged crimes he is accused of;
and reportedly received no explanation on the
reasons of his detention either.
Mr. Memduh ıkmaz, a successful Turkish
businessman with alleged links to the Gülen
Movement was detained by Sudanese authorities on September ,
. Mr. ıkmaz contributed to, inter alia, education, humanitarian and
charities, but was forced to sell all his properties and flee to the Sudan in January
, after
being constantly harassed and threatened by
the Turkish government. The Sudanese Intelligence Services took Mr. ıkmaz into custody
at around .
midday , reportedly in the )ntelligence Services (eadquarters in Khartoum,
in the presence of his spouse, son, brother and
his company director.199 At the time of his detention he was not informed of any reasons
for his arrest, or any explanation on charges
brought against him. His lawyer has no access
to him and so far, no knowledge on his whereabouts. His lawyer did not have any opportunity to take proceedings before any court, which
can decide on the lawfulness of his detention.
Since his detention in early September
,
no charges had been brought against him from
the Sudanese authorities, nor was he brought
before a judge to review his detention. He also
lost around kg in weight in the Sudan. Without any prior warning or indication, on November ,
, at around : local Sudanese time GMT
Mr. Memduh ıkmaz, was
forcibly taken from the Khartoum )ntelligence
Headquarters (where he was held since September ,
and handed over to members
of Turkey’s National )ntelligence Organization
M)�T at Khartoum Airport. (andcuffed and
subject to humiliation, Mr. Memduh ıkmaz
was forced to board a Turkish Airlines flight
TK
headed to )�stanbul, Turkey. At arrival
: a.m. local time in )�stanbul - at )�stanbul
Atat“rk airport Mr. ıkmaz was detained. A
photo of Mr. ıkmaz taken at arrival in )stanbul
shows him handcuffed.
https://www.turkishminute.com/
/ / /sudan-arrests-gulen-linked-businessman-at-turkeys-request/
https://stockholmcf.org/report-turkeys-mit-abducts-turkish-businessman-from-sudan/
199
75
to the United States of America through Tehran )ran , Dubai United Arab Emirates and
Skopje (Macedonia), where he was allegedly
informed that his Turkish passport had been
reported lost, before put in a plane and flown
back to the Dubai airport. The Macedonian
authorities promised to return his passport
at the gate, but unfortunately this was not the
case and with a copy of the passport he was
held at the Dubai airport. Mr. K. once boarded
a plane for Skopje, where he finally was able to
ask for international protection.
CASE 27
Country: Switzerland
Treatment: Risk of abduction, illegal transfer
across international boundaries
Victim(s): Swiss-Turkish businessman
Date: March 15, 2018
On March 15, 2018 lawmakers from the
Swiss parliament requested a strong reaction
from the Swiss government in response to active preparations by two Turkish diplomats to
kidnap (and subject to rendition in Turkey)
a dual citizen and Swiss-based businessman,
who was allegedly active in the Hizmet/Gülen
movement.201 The existence of the plot was
confirmed by the Office of the Swiss Attorney
General based “on suspicion of political intelligence gathering … and prohibited acts for a
foreign state.”
PART VII
CONCLUSIONS AND
RECOMMENDATIONS
T
he right to leave is enshrined in very
similar terms in numerous relevant
human rights treaties into force in
the Republic of Turkey, indicating both, the
importance of the right to leave and the objective of coherence in its interpretation and application. Blanket restrictions, requirements
which do not meet the test of “legality”, or restrictions which are inconsistent with other
rights in the ICCPR (e.g. the antidiscrimination
guarantee in Article
, are not permissible.
Purged public sector workers, teachers, academics, journalists, human rights defenders,
trade unionists, businessmen, lawyers, judges,
prosecutors, police officers, military personnel and other professionals - have all been denied a future in Turkey.
Hundreds of thousands of individuals have
been detained or arrested and investigated
on charges for membership of an ‘armed terrorist organization’. Around two hundred fifty
thousand (250,000) Turkish citizens have had
their passports cancelled and also labeled by
the government as terrorists.
CASE 28
Country: Ukraine
Treatment: Arbitrary Detention (Airport)
Victim(s): A.Y., spouse, 2 children
Date: May 25, 2017
Mr. A.Y., traveling with his family from
Bangkok to Casablanca, Morocco through a
connecting flight in Kiev, Ukraine when he was
detained by Ukraine authorities. There is no
further information on his whereabouts and
his current situation.
CASE 29
Country: United Arab Emirates
and FYR Macedonia
Treatment: A Passport seizure (Airport)
Victim(s): M.K.
Date: October 3, 2017
On October ,
, Mr. M. K., a physics
teacher from Adana Turkey was traveling
201
https://www.tagesanzeiger.ch/schweiz/nach-entfuehrungsversuch-bundesrat-soll-scharf-gegen-die-tuerkeivorgehen/story/
76
Grave human rights violations and relentless persecution against real or perceived political opponents and individuals with dissenting views - are forcing an increasing number of
Turkish nationals from all walks of life to seek
international protection.
Abroad, Turkish teachers, businessmen, academics and other intellectuals are under increasing distress and face enforced and involuntary disappearance, attempts to forcibly and
unlawfully expel them to Turkey, where they
would be subjected to arbitrary detention,
torture and ill-treatment. They face abuse, inhumane, and degrading treatment; precarious
living, health, financial, economic conditions
and other hardships; have their passports cancelled, their children born stateless, and scores
face arbitrary deprivation of nationality.
Unless the relentless assault on dissent in
the country, all legal, administrative and practical measures that contribute to the unprecedented assault, are not immediately reversed
- the future of hundreds of thousands more individuals in Turkey will be denied – and many
in the future will have no other choice then to
risk their lives in trying to leave the country, in
order to seek international protection.
rights violations since the attempted coup, are
duly investigated and that perpetrators of human rights violations are brought to justice.
• Organize all State organs and governance
structures through which public authority is
exercised in a manner consistent with the need
to respect and ensure the right to life, both in
Turkey and abroad.
• Ensure effective reparations for victims
and family members whose human rights have
been affected by unlawful and arbitrary measures, which contravene the rights of individuals to freedom of movement.
Recommendations to the
International Community
The Journalists and Writers Foundation
urges the international community to actively
seek solutions for the acute deterioration of democracy and human rights within Turkey and
to take steps to counteract the Turkish government’s lawless acts against its perceived opponents abroad, with a particular focus on the
recommendations made in mid-2017 by the
Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion as set
out below:202
• Directly address, as a matter of utmost priority and importance, the deteriorating human
rights situation in Turkey, including in relation
• To fully comply with its international hu- to the right to leave and arbitrary deprivaman rights obligations and ensure that its citi- tion of nationality of Turkish citizens, through
zens and foreigners residing in the country en- all relevant and appropriate United Nations,
Council of Europe and other mechanisms, as
joy their right to leave.
• )mmediately end the state of emergency, well as through bilateral diplomatic engagerescind the decree-laws and reverse all mea- ment.
• Ensure that Turkish citizens are not desures detrimental to the future of hundreds of
thousands of individuals, including the can- ported to Turkey, where they risk being subcellation of approximately two hundred fifty ject to severe and irreparable harm. Such deportations violate the international obligation
thousand (250,000) passports.
• Ensure that every loss of life, enforced dis- of states to non-refoulement.
• Assist in resettlement efforts of Turkish
appearances, torture and other grave human
Recommendations to the
government of Turkey:
202
http://www.institutesi.org/policy-brief-Turkey-arbitrary-deprivation-of-nationality_2017.pdf
77
and their suffering until reaching liberty – have
all helped the Journalists and Writers Foundation draw relevant conclusions and make recommendations to address this increasingly
important issue. The relevant statistics drawn
from analyzing those cases have also been
shared with relevant stakeholders for possible
remedies.
)n particular, these accounts confirmed that
all those fleeing the country, without exception
risking their lives in every single meter of their
respective routes, are forced to leave and seek
international protection because they are denied any future in Turkey and are facing, inter
alia, arbitrary detention, torture, enforced disappearance or extrajudicial killings.
PART VIII
The Journalists and Writers Foundation
carefully examined and found all the accounts
ANNEXES
consistent and credible. The interviews in the
paragraphs that follow were selected as the
ANNEX - )nterviews with )ndividuals in Exile
most illustrative, based on the fact that they
ANNEX – )ndividuals Deprived of Nationality come from individuals belonging to different
and Denied Counselor Services
age groups, social and economic backgrounds,
ANNEX - List of Cross-border )ncidents
who are now living in different countries.
ANNEX - List of Abductions, Detentions, ArThe Journalists and Writers Foundation has
rests, Deportation
withheld their names and other relevant information, such as dates, times, place of detention,
Annex 1 - Interviews with
border crossings and profession - to the extent
Individuals in Exile
necessary to protect them, their relatives and
In the process of drafting the present report, friends in Turkey from eventual reprisals.
the Journalists and Writers Foundation identiInterview 1
fied around
Turkish citizens who were detained, jailed or released only after their passMy name is Nurten [real name and identity
ports were seized or cancelled. Many people
withheld].
) worked nearly
years as a civil
who had fled into exile in the aftermath of the
attempted coup, from all age groups and be- servant in Turkey. We had a happy family life
longing to different social and economic back- together with my husband and our two chilgrounds, enthusiastically expressed readiness dren. My husband was a businessman and my
to tell their stories. They all did so in the hope children were attending school. The younger
that their accounts would somehow help those child was attending high school and the older
one was a university student. My children were
left behind.
The Journalists and Writers Foundation hard-working students in their schools and
is grateful to all individuals who contributed active participants in their social and civic enwith their stories in facilitating the drafting of gagement.
the report. While not all of them will be able
My husband believed in social responsibilto identify their stories in the present report, ity and engaged in civil society organization to
simply due to page limitations; all contributors help the people in need and contribute to the
may rest assured their accounts of persecution quality of life. He assisted students get a bet-
nationals, to avoid forcible return of the individuals at extreme risk to Turkey, or any other
place where they face torture, ill treatment and
a real risk to their lives.
• Consider granting refugee status and international protection to Turkish citizens at risk,
including those who have been issued summons under Decree
or denied consular
services.
• Encourage the UN(CR to urgently make
the determination and grant all the Turkish
citizens at risk refugee status, based on the degree of risk and vulnerability.
78
79
After being released, ) learned that ) was suspended from public service because I was taken
into custody for being a member of an armed
terrorist organization. About two months later,
I was expelled from my job by the decree law
K(K . ) retired then, but they also confiscated
my retirement pension.
Every time ) would go to the police station to
sign the log, I was afraid of being arrested again.
Since my husband had to flee abroad, ) had to
take care of the needs of my children and the
employees at my husband’s business places.
In mid-October 2017, I was taken again into
custody, after I went to the police station to sign
the log. The public prosecutor put pressure on
me to testify against the Hizmet Movement and
my husband. I knew that being taken into custody for the second time meant imprisonment.
The public prosecutor threatened me by sending me to the prison. I was asked who I knew
and questioned about the phone calls I made. I
was taken into custody for five more days. Then,
the public prosecutor referred to court for my
arrest, and the judge released me with a condition to signing the log at the police station and
ordered travel ban outside the country.
The public prosecutor objected the decision
of the judge. I was aware that the prosecutor
and the overall situation in the country would
have forced the judge to change his decision. I
therefore decided to leave everything behind
and flee from my country with all my children.
My older son was a senior student at the university. I did not want to leave him behind in
Turkey because I was worried about him staying alone to face the pressure by himself while
finishing his studies. Therefore, my older son,
with a heavy heart, had to abandon his higher
education in the last year without completing
his studies.
We experienced serious threats and unbearable social pressure in Turkey. We had
no dreams and aspirations left for the future.
Therefore, unfortunately, there were no other
options but flee abroad until the day when the
situation gets back to normal in Turkey.
Leaving Turkey
We had to take severe risks of life (drowning) to sail to the Greek Islands and then escape
to Greece. Just a day before, we heard from the
news that a group of people was caught trying
to escape through the same route, and we were
simply terrified about our journey. The news reported that one of the individuals apprehended
a day before was a judge who was caught trying
to escape to Greece. We just set off with a backpack, so people do not understand that we are
fleeing from Turkey.
We arrived at the arranged meeting place at
: a.m. in the morning. We waited until :
pm to avoid suspicious activity, because everybody was anxious and stressed about getting
caught. I experienced such a terrible depression
that I could not try to do it again if I did not do it
that day. In total, we were four families with 11
children: children - yrs. old ; infant months old); 1 girl (10 yrs. old); and my son at
the age of .
After a -hour journey, we arrived at the
Greek island. Later, we traveled from Greece to
Germany, Germany to Poland, and finally from
Poland to the United States. We were lucky to
reach the United States because we had passports with valid visas. However, on our way to
the United States, the police stopped us at the
airport in Poland. A police team took us to a
small room and questioned us for some time.
We were stressed out of being deported to Turkey. The police officers however approved our
passports and allowed us to board the plane.
Arrival in the United States
80
In the end of October 2017, we arrived in the
United States, and my husband met us at the airport. It was unexplainable happiness that our
family got back together, once again after a lifethreatening journey to freedom. When we arrived in the United States we felt safe and secure;
however, many new challenges were waiting for
our family. Until we rented our home, my husband’s friend generously welcomed and hosted
us at their house for about a month. Later, we
applied for asylum in the United States because
National Assembly of Turkey. We resisted until July 15th, but I did not get a chance to do
journalism when the government appointed
a Board of Trustee to the Zaman Media Group
on March ,
. Our editorial independence
was destroyed. I had to resign on these terms
as many journalists were fired from their jobs.
The Zaman daily was closed after July 15th, and
everything was confiscated. Over thousand of
my friends lost their jobs, and I became unemployed, too. My wife used to teach at a private
school. Her school was also shut down, and
she also became unemployed. My two children
were going to foundation universities, and their
universities were seized. They were left without higher education. They opened an investigation against me. I almost lost my freedom
because journalism had become a crime.
I have always defended democracy and freedom throughout my professional life, and I have
been unequivocal against military coups. I was
with my family when the attempted coup was
developing, and I cursed the July 15th failed
coup, too. Within a few days, I understood that
it was a fictitious coup. )n one night, ,
judges were taken from their posts. Thus, they must
have blacklisted them beforehand. The opponents would be oppressed. Then, they declared
the state of emergency O(AL . The journalists
were arrested as the witch hunt started.
our life is in danger in Turkey and if we were
sent back, we would face torture, ill-treatment
and imprisonment on totally false accusations.
Unfortunately, we had to leave behind many
relatives and friends in Turkey. Now, we are
worried about their future. Unfortunately, we
do not want to call them on the phone to avoid
any harm, because we are accused of being
members of an armed terrorist organization in
Turkey.
The government put a hold on our assets,
and our bank accounts were frozen in Turkey.
Unfortunately, we had to leave all out assets
behind to save our lives. Our businesses are
running, but we cannot pay the debts from investments, due to the bank seizures. The life
in the United States is wonderful, and we have
dreams for the future, but it is really tough to
start a new life again and get hold of it. After all,
we feel grateful for what we have here when we
think about the people left behind. We pray for
the innocent people and the future of Turkey.
Thank you.
Interview 2
My name is Ali [real name and identity withheld], and I have been in journalism for almost
30 years. I studied journalism and made tens
and hundreds of news and interviews. My interest areas are politics and recent history. I
have published books, and I am an honorary
member of the journalistic society. I have a
permanent press card. I am married and have
three children. I worked as an editor in Istanbul
before our broadcast group was seized.
The Risks faced in Turkey
There was no account that I could not give,
but there was no rule of law. ) wouldn’t sacrifice
myself for the sake of the ruling party. I went
into hiding for few months. They raided my
home and confiscated my books. Since ) had a
valid visa, ) looked for the first opportunity to
leave the country.
I talked with a lawyer. He told me that no
lawyer could defend me. None of my friends
could find a lawyer. They were jailed and tortured. I had to take a huge risk for freedom. I
had to cross the border at night. After passing
two countries, ) flew to this country because )
had a valid visa. It was a life-threatening journey full of dangers. One week later, my wife
joined me here using the same route.
The Nature of Pressure, Fears,
and Threats
Before the July 15th failed coup attempt, the
pressure against our media group increased.
The government did not want independent
free press. The newspapers were silenced one
by one. There were lawsuits against the journalists. In short, they prevented us from doing
journalism. My press card was canceled. They
asked me to return my entry card to the Grand
81
No one would choose to travel with two little
girls. My sisters, the younger one is years, the
other one 10 years old. It is such a dangerous
road for the children and I knew it, my father
also knew it. We have heard so many terrific
incidents, people dying while trying to escape.
However, when you do not have any other
choice, you are only left with the choice to
leave the country. We had to flee as a result
of the social labeling, we did not choose to escape Turkey, we just had to, like thousands of
other families. My mother was in jail and her
children, including my little sisters, did not
have visitation permission and could not see
her. For three months, we could not speak to
our mother. We had to leave without seeing
our mother. My mother stayed in prison for 8
months and my sisters could not see her for
almost a year. In addition, we did not know
where our father was.
We left the country on September ,
.
It was such a stressful travel. I told my little
sisters that we are going for a vacation and my
father is waiting us there. We were so stressed
when we were going to the borderline. We
sailed with a very unsafe boat composed of
wood materials. We had to exit the boat before
we reach the marina as they said police was
coming. We jumped right into the water with
the girls. We had to walk to the meeting point
where a car was planned to pick us up, without being seen.
The region was an army base and if we were
caught we would surely be detained. We were
only thinking about the traumas that the girls
are going through. We only knew that we were
in Greece, but we did not know exactly where
we were. We were in a place where it was only
covered with bushes and thorns, which was
hurting us so bad while walking around them.
Betul s face
was bleeding as thorns were
scratching her face, arms and her legs. We
kept on walking. We had my younger brother
(19) with us too. He was walking in front of us
checking the road, and I was holding the girls.
At one point, several dogs attacked us. ) am
not afraid of dogs, however; I just did not know
what to do in that moment. Somehow, we were
A New Chapter in Life
Opening a new page in life is difficult. ) could
not even bring a photo with me. I had to leave
everything in my country including relatives
and friends. I have experienced all sorts of challenges that all exiled journalists undergo in a
foreign country. I remember that Stefan Zweig
who fled from (itler committed suicide in exile.
Now, ) understand him better.
Unfortunately, many of them are in prison,
and others are unemployed. The courts just
started looking at the lawsuits. The journalists are being tried for their ideas, but you cannot reach anywhere by forbidding ideas and
thoughts. Where did Hitler go? If the free world
is more sensitive to human rights violations
in Turkey, we would see less human suffering
there. Thank you.
Interview 3
I was studying business at a university. I
was a sophomore undergraduate student, but I
had to quit. Now, ) am years old. My mother
was arrested and we did not know where our
father was. We had to settle down somewhere
and start a new life for my sisters. For security reasons, we were not able to stay in our
house and we were living in some other locations. One day, we went to our house to pack a
couple of things and the security officer of our
town center told us that the police had come,
asking for us and requesting that we need to
give a testimony. Townhouse management advised us to run away and not to go back again.
Then we realized that we were not able to stay
there anymore as we did not have a right to
live due to the purge. Later, we managed to get
in touch with our father and agreed that we
needed to leave the country.
We were subject to exile as a result of
the social labeling, we did not choose
to escape Turkey, we just had to.
We had to flee in exile because of the purge.
82
able to reach to the meeting point and the
car took us to the airport.
Police stopped us when they noted we
were holders of Turkish passports. Without
even looking at our visas and tickets, they
pulled us up apart. We had Sweden visas
as my father had arrived before us and applied for a family reunion. After a stressful
passport control, the police then released us.
We did not have any other problems while
boarding the plane.
Merve (10) is playing violin for 5 years
and she loves it. We all had our backpacks,
Merve only wanted her violin with her. It
was just like a movie scene - a refugee girl
escaping with her violin on her back through
bushes and thorns. We were receiving so
many threats in Turkey via Twitter. During
my mother’s stay in prison, my Twitter account was attacked even more. My friends
from high school started to threaten me.
When all the difficulties came together we
had to seek ways to escape Turkey.
There is a 40 years old
professor driving Taxi
The financial crisis was among the other
problems that we had. There is a years old
professor driving Taxi. A businessman of
years left behind his factory and came here
delivering pizzas. A journalist of
years
is doing transportation… We are also living
in circumstances which are way below our
normal life standards. I am working now to
sustain the family while my brother is going
to the language school. Someone must work.
We have left our older brother in Turkey
as someone had to stay there to take care of
my mother in prison and most of our relatives were not very helpful. Later, my mother
and older brother also left the country together. They also had to take a very dangerous route. We did tell our little sisters that
our mother and older brother were on the
way to join us, until they boarded the plane.
Betul was repeatedly saying that “My
mother is dead and you are not telling me
about it. If my mother would have been alive
somewhere, she would have not resisted and
would have called me”. One day my mother
was able to send a letter from the prison. My
brother has pictured the letter and send it to
us. That was her first communication with
us. It was very hard to believe for all of us
that my brother and my mother boarded on
the plane without any problem. My little sisters were separated from their mothers for a
year. She was detained on July ,
and
she arrived in Sweden on June ,
, almost a year.
The financial problems mentioned above
are not big obstacles. If people who are arbitrarily detained in Turkey could be released,
we will open our houses to host them. People in Turkey are struggling the most. We are
just sustaining our lives here and try to do
something for them, if it is any help. I hope
one day they will be released and have a free
life as well. Thank you.
My sisters do not know we left our
mother behind
When we came to Sweden, a family hosted us for a while as we did not have our own
house yet. My sisters were kind of happy as
we were united with our father; however,
they still felt that my mother was missing.
They did not know that we left my mother
back in Turkey. Especially Betul was at an
age when a child needed her mother’s care
the most.
We did not have much problem integrating into the society as the Swedish do not really make you feel like a refugee. They never
behave mean against immigrants. Swedish
people were shocked when they hear our
story. The fact that the most educated and
intellectual part of the society being forced
to leave the country is very strange for them.
83
IN MEMORY OF MADEN AND ABDURREZZAK FAMILIES
A brief story of their lives, achievements, and finally their tragic end are summarized here while
their absence is already felt quite deeply – they shall not be forgotten!
MADEN FAMILY
The members of Maden family, allegedly linked to
the Hizmet Movement drowned after their boat
capsized in the Aegean Sea, off the western coast
of Turkey. The bodies of Hüseyin Maden, his wife
(Feridun, Hüseyin, Nur, Nadire, Bahar)
Nur Maden and their children, Nadire Maden, Bahar Maden and Feridun Maden were reportedly
203
discovered over several days during November
, in different parts of the Greek island of Lesbos. A Turkish MP said prosecutors were investigating the Maden family over ties to the (izmet
Movement. MPs and activists tweeted their shock at these latest deaths. “It’s a sad day for the whole
country,” one opposition MP wrote. “People are dying in the absence of democracy and law”. “It was
not their bodies but our humanity that washed up on that shore,” wrote a journalist.
ABDURREZAK FAMILY
Uğur
an English language teacher, and his
wife Ayşe Abdurrezak
a Turkish language
teacher, were among tens of thousands of teachers dismissed from their professions under the
state of emergency. Both of them lost their jobs
on the account of being alleged members of the
(Abdulkadir, Ayse, Munir)
G“len Movement. According to reports, Uğur Abdurrezak was detained by police during a raid to his home after six months of his dismissal from his
position and was kept in Kandıra Prison for months. (e was reportedly released in January
,
pending trial on the accusation of being a member of terror organization. Uğur faced a prison sentence between , years and years, prior to deciding to leave the country with his family. Together
with their -year-old son Abd“lkadir Enes and -year-old son (alil M“nir, the Abdurrezzak couple
was set to flee Turkey through the Maritsa/Evros River at around midnight of February ,
.
After a long walk accompanied by human traffickers there was another family walking along with
them , the families reached the Maritsa/Evros River around : a.m. An eyewitness revealed that
“The boat was not big enough to carry all of them and they insisted for two rounds, but the smugglers did not agree. Also, the water level was too high. The boat was constantly spinning. We first hit
a tree branch and were driven away. Then the boat capsized when we hit a tree branch for the second
time. The water was so cold… I could not hear any sound when the boat overturned. I thought that
I was going to die, too. Fortunately, I could hold a piece of branch. I could hardly take myself to the
shore. ) roamed around for about hours with my wet dresses. All my stuff and phone were gone.
Then, ) found a Greek soldier. The bodies of two children of the Abdurrezak couple and their mother
washed up onto the river bank. The body of Uğur Abdurrezak has not been found.
203
http://www.institutesi.org/policy-brief-Turkey-arbitrary-deprivation-of-nationality_2017.pdf
84
ANNEX 2 – Individuals Deprived of Nationality and Denied Counselor Services
Revised February 2018
Turkish Citizens Abroad facing Deprivation of Nationality/Denial of Counselor Services
# of
Victims
Category
Violations of Right to Leave
Deprivation of Nationality
Individual's names were published in the Official Gazette
229
Denial of Passport for
Newborns/Nationality ID
Not issuing Passports / IDs for children
111
Denial of Consular Services
Canceling Adult / Children Passports
705
Denial of Right to Travel
To/from any country
9
Confiscation of Passports
21
Resolved (Spouse and children returned Turkey)
31
1106
Total:
Right to Leave Problems by Country
705
COUNTRY
111
21
9
31
Travel
Counselor Newborns Confiscation Right
877
Resolved Total
1 Afghanistan
27
17
1
-
30
75
2 Algeria
3
3
-
-
-
6
3 Cambodia
1
-
-
1
-
2
4 China
12
3
1
4
-
20
-
1
-
-
-
1
6 Egypt
66
6
2
-
-
74
7 Gabon
5
-
-
-
-
5
8 Georgia
56
4
10
-
-
70
9 India
5
-
-
-
1
6
4
7
1
-
-
12
Dominican
5 Republic
10 Indonesia
85
10 Indonesia
4
7
1
-
-
12
107
26
1
-
-
134
12 Kosova
Kosovo
1
-
-
-
-
1
13 Morocco
9
3
1
-
-
13
14 Myanmar
4
4
1
-
-
9
15 Niger
1
-
-
-
-
1
16 Nigeria
16
24
-
1
-
41
17 Pakistan
365
-
-
-
-
365
18 Philippines
6
3
-
3
-
12
19 Poland
-
-
1
-
-
1
20 Russia
-
-
1
-
-
1
21 Saudi Arabia
3
-
-
-
-
3
22 Taiwan
1
-
-
-
-
1
23 Tajikistan
-
3
-
-
-
3
24 Thailand
2
-
-
-
-
2
25 Tunisia
8
1
-
-
-
9
26 Ukraine
2
-
1
-
-
3
27 Vietnam
1
6
-
-
-
7
705
111
21
9
31
877
11 Iraq
TOTAL
ANNEX 3 - List of Cross-border Incidents
(Data Excel Sheet until January 2018)
# of
people
Men
Women
Aziz T.
7
7
-
-
Former Deputy Police
Chief
Arrested
10/18/17
M.G
1
1
-
-
Judge
Arrested
5/13/17
Turgay Karaman,
Ihsan Aslan, Ismet
Ozcelik
3
3
-
-
Teacher, Businessmen,
Academic
Arrested
12/16/17
Mustafa Kenel
5
1
-
-
Businessman
Arrested
2/2/17
-
14
-
-
-
-
Arrested
9/5/17
F.F.B, Y.Y.Y, Ö.T,
3
-
-
-
-
Arrested
Date
Name (initials)
4/25/17
86
Ş
ğ
Children Profession
Status
2/2/17
-
14
-
-
-
-
Arrested
9/5/17
F.F.B, Y.Y.Y, Ö.T,
3
-
-
-
-
Arrested
6/3/17
Halil Kumcu,
Fathullah Catal,
Mustafa Can
3
3
-
-
Noncommissioned Officer,
Assistant Professor, 3
Teachers
Arrested
1/9/18
Şenol U, Oğuzhan P.,
Hüseyin S., Mahmut
A.
4
4
-
-
-
Arrested
2/5/17
E.O, T.O, A.K.O, I,O
4
1
1
2
Engineering Professor
Detained
2/14/17
B.K, V.K, A.T, T,C
8
2
2
4
Former Family Ministry
employee, Former
Academic, Former Auditor
at Labor Ministry, Former
Doctor
Detained
2/20/17
G.Y, T.O.Y, M.Y and
F.S
4
-
1
3
Former National Police
Department employee
Detained
2/26/17
-
97
-
-
-
-
Detained
3/3/17
M.S.C
1
1
-
-
Police Officer
Detained
3/4/17
H.T.K
1
-
1
-
-
Detained
4/25/17
-
2
-
-
-
Public Servants
Detained
5/8/17
M.O
1
1
-
-
Police Officer
Detained
5/21/17
-
11
-
-
2
Architect, Teacher,
Academics, 2 Policemen
Detained
5/22/17
M.A.B, A.M.K, S.K
3
-
-
-
2 Academics and Teacher
Detained
5/25/17
-
4
4
-
-
Police chiefs and Student
Detained
5/29/17
Y.C and O.C
2
2
-
-
Academic
Detained
6/2/17
-
10
-
-
4
4 Teachers, Doctor and
Sergeant
Detained
6/8/17
A.T and A.T
5
1
1
3
2 Teachers
Detained
6/23/17
M.S
1
1
-
-
Businessman
Detained
6/24/17
M.G
1
1
-
-
Former Police Chief
Detained
7/3/17
O.K
1
1
-
-
Judge
Detained
7/13/17
-
12
-
-
2
Teachers and Police
officers
Detained
7/21/17
S.A
1
1
-
-
-
Detained
8/28/17
B.A, B.S.A
5
3
1
1
3 Doctors
Detained
87
9/14/17
-
14
-
-
2
Former vice president of
the Banking Regulation
and Supervision Agency
(BDDK)
9/15/17
E.K and H.K
5
1
1
3
-
Detained
9/28/17
H.Y.Y. and A.B.
2
2
-
-
Businessman and Teacher
Detained
9/28/17
-
3
-
-
-
Teacher, Businessman
Detained
10/11/17
-
12
-
-
4
Teacher
Detained
10/13/17
-
5
4
1
-
-
Detained
10/18/17
S.A
2
2
-
-
Police Chief
Detained
10/19/17
M.O
1
1
-
-
-
Detained
10/20/17
-
7
3
2
2
2 teachers
Detained
10/22/17
Bulent Kinay,Fatih
Mehmet Uslu
2
2
-
-
2 Former Judges
Detained
10/23/17
-
10
4
2
4
-
Detained
10/25/17
S.K
1
-
-
1
-
Detained
10/27/17
-
30
-
-
17
former civil servants
Detained
10/30/17
-
3
-
-
-
-
Detained
11/8/17
S.T
1
1
-
-
-
Detained
11/9/17
I.P
6
1
1
4
Teacher
Detained
11/13/17
Y.Y
10
-
-
-
-
Detained
11/22/17
-
11
-
-
5
-
Detained
11/30/17
-
4
-
-
-
-
Detained
12/11/17
M.S, O.Y, S.S,
H.H.E, S.A, O.A
2
2 Academics, Force
Officer, Teacher, 3 Former
Police Chiefs
Detained
Detained
8
6
-
Detained
12/15/17
A.S.,H.İ.İ,E.I., S.K.,
12
-
-
4
Fr. Public Servant, 2 Fr.
Chemistry Teacher,
Agricultural Engineer,
High School Personnel.
12/16/17
E.S
4
1
1
2
Former Police Officer
Detained
12/26/17
-
20
4
-
5
4 Teacher, 4 Policemen,
Academic
Detained
1/1/18
M.A, A.C.E, H.H
3
-
-
-
2 Academics, Teacher
Detained
1/6/18
S.M, H.M
2
1
1
-
2 Teacher
Detained
1/7/18
O.E
1
1
-
-
Teacher
Detained
1/12/18
-
4
-
-
-
Teacher, Hospital Worker
Detained
1/23/18
-
6
-
-
-
4 Former Public Servants
Detained
88
1/12/18
-
4
-
-
-
Teacher, Hospital Worker
Detained
1/23/18
-
6
-
-
-
4 Former Public Servants
Detained
1/29/18
H.S, O.S
4
-
1
3
-
Detained
2/3/18
-
12
-
-
4
Teacher, midwife, Former
military officer
Detained
2/5/18
-
6
-
-
-
-
Detained
6/10/17
Taci Senturk
1
1
-
-
Teacher
Detained
6/12/17
Muhammed Furkan
Sokmen, Ayse
Sokmen, Sibel
Sokmen
5
1
1
3
Teacher
Detained
6/12/17
1 Family
3
-
-
-
-
Detained
1
1
-
-
-
Detained
1
2 Teacher
Detained
Detained
1/9/18
-
10/8/17
I.Y.
1
6/3/17
Fatih Ilkkaya,
Yilmaz Erdogan
2
2
-
-
Non-commissioned
Officer, Assistant
Professor, 3 Teachers
9/5/17
C.İ, E.T, K.K
3
-
-
-
-
Detained
2/2/17
-
6
-
-
-
-
Detained
3/17/17
Murat Zumre
1
1
-
-
Computer Engineer
Died
2/13/18
Ayse Abdulrezzak,
Halil M.,
Abdulrezzak.
Abdulkadir E.
Abdulrezzak
3
1
2
11/20/17
Hüseyin Maden, Nur
Maden, Nadire
Maden, Bahar
Maden, Feridun
Maden
5
1
1
3
Teachers
Died
2/13/18
Fahrettin Dogan,
Aslin Dogan,
Ibrahim Selim
Dogan, Ugur
Abdurrezzak
4
2
1
1
-
Lost
10/8/17
H.Y.
3
1
2
2 Teacher
Released
1
4
Noncommissioned Officer,
Assistant Professor, 3
Teachers
Released
-
6/3/17
Hatice Can
5
1/9/18
-
8
-
3
5
474
80
26
104
Total:
89
Died
Released
TOTAL
474
Total:
474
80
26
104
TOTAL
474
Detained
313
Arrested
40
Died
9
Released
5
Lost
4
Children
103
Cross-border Incidents by Gender
300
261
200
100
Total Number of People
Attemted to Cross
the Border
104
80
0
26
Female
Male
Children
Numbers Categorized by Gender
Source: Journalist and Writers Foundation
(February, 2018) www.jwf.org/reports
90
Not Mentioned
Cross-border Incidents by Profession
Ministry Personnel 3.3%
Judges 4.4%
Doctors 5.5%
Public Servants 4.4%
Businessmen 5.5%
Teachers 41.8%
Police Oicers 19.8%
Academics 15.4%
Source: Journalists and Writers Foundation (February, 2018) www.jwf.org/reports
Cross-border Incidents by Status
Number of People
Detained
313
103
Unknown
Arrested
40
Death
9
Released
5
Lost
4
0
100
200
300
Source: Journalist and Writers Foundation (February, 2018) www.jwf.org/reports
91
400
ANNEX 4 - List of Abductions, Detention, Arrests, Deportation (April 2018)
ABDUCTION CASES IN TURKEY AND ABROAD
CAS
E
COUNTRY
VICTIMS
DATE
NOTE
1
Turkey
Sunay Elmas
27-Jan-16 Unknown
2
Turkey
Mustafa O. Gultekin
21-Dec-16 Unknown
3
Turkey
Huseyin Kotuce
28-Feb-17 Unknown
4
Turkey
Mesut Gecer
26-Mar-17 Unknown
5
Turkey
Turgut Capan
31-Mar-17 Unknown
6
Turkey
Onder Asan
7
Turkey
Mustafa Ozben
9-May-17 Unknown
8
Turkey
Murat Okumus
16-Jun-17 Unknown
9
Turkey
Ayhan Oran
1-Nov-16 Unknown
10
Turkey
Umit Horzum
6-Dec-17 Unknown
11
Turkey
Durmus Ali Cetin
12
Turkey
Cemil Kocak
13
Turkey
Fatih Kilic
14
Turkey
Cengiz Usta
15
Malaysia
Alettin Duman
13-Oct-16 Deported to Turkey
16
Malaysia
Tamer Tibik
13-Oct-16 Deported to Turkey
17
Malaysia
Unknown
13-Oct-16 Deported to Turkey
18
Malaysia
Turgay Karaman
2-May-17 Deported to Turkey
19
Malaysia
Ihsan Aslan
2-May-17 Deported to Turkey
20
Malaysia
Ismet Ozcelik
2-May-17 Deported to Turkey
21
Kazakhstan
Enver Kilic
16-Sep-17 Unknown
22
Kazakhstan
Zabit Kici
16-Sep-17 Unknown
23
Pakistan
Mesut Kacmaz
26-Sep-17 Deported to Turkey
24
Pakistan
Meral Kacmaz
26-Sep-17 Deported to Turkey
25
Pakistan
Huda Nur Kacmaz
26-Sep-17 Deported to Turkey
26
Pakistan
Fatma Nur Kacmaz
26-Sep-17 Deported to Turkey
27
Afghanistan
Yilmaz Aytan
12-Dec-17 Under Arrest
28
Afghanistan
Sami Yavuz
12-Dec-17 Under Arrest
29
Afghanistan
Onder Akkus
30
Afghanistan
Yunus Demirci
12-Dec-17 Released
31
Afghanistan
Masood Wardak
12-Dec-17 Released
32
Iraq
A.C.
19-Jan-18 Unknown
33
Kosovo
Mustafa Erdem
29-Mar-18 Deported to Turkey
34
Kosovo
Yusuf Karabina
29-Mar-18 Deported to Turkey
35
Kosovo
Kahraman Demirez
29-Mar-18 Deported to Turkey
36
Kosovo
Cihan Ozkan
29-Mar-18 Deported to Turkey
37
Kosovo
Hasan H. Gunakan
29-Mar-18 Deported to Turkey
38
Kosovo
Osman Karakaya
29-Mar-18 Deported to Turkey
Handed over to police after 42
1-Apr-17 days
17-May-17 Unknown
16-Jun-17 Unknown
14-May-17 Unknown
4-Apr-17 Unknown
!8312-Dec-17 Released
92
38 Turkish citizens affiliated with Hizmet Movement abducted abroat in
parthnership with Turkish Intelligence (MIT)
16
14
14
Number of People
12
10
Source: Journalist and Writers
Foundation (April 2018)
www.jwf.org/reports
8
6
6
6
5
4
4
2
2
1
0
Iraq
Pakistan
Kazakhstan
Afghanistan
Kosovo+
Malaysia
Turkey
38 Turkish citizens affiliated with Hizmet Movement detained,
arrested, or imprisoned at the request of Turkish Government
12
10
Number of People
8
Source: Journalist and Writers
Foundation (April 2018)
www.jwf.org/reports
6
4
2
0
*
n
sta
ovo
h
s
k
o
K
za
Ka
gia
or
Ge
n
sta
dan
Su
Af
ni
gha
a
gol
An
ia
Syr
cco
ro
Mo
93
bon
Ga
a
a
si
lay
a
M
Sa
i
rab
A
i
ud
127 Turkish citizens affiliated with Hizmet Movement deported upon request by
the of Turkish Government
50
45
40
35
30
25
Number of People
20
15
Source: Journalist and Writers
Foundation (April 2018)
www.jwf.org/reports
10
5
0
sia Gabon
ia
Sudan Myanmar Pakistan Kosovo Bulgar Malay
bia Qatar
Greece Saudi Ara
34 Turkish citizens affiliated with Hizmet Movement jailed upon arrival in Turkey
12
10
8
Number of People
6
Source: Journalist and Writers
Foundation (April 2018)
www.jwf.org/reports
4
2
0
Sudan
Georgia
ar
Myanm
n
Pakista
Gabon
+
Kosovo
94
ia
Malays
rabia
Saudi A
JWF’s REPORTS
Please visit the website to access the full version of the reports:
www.jwf.org/reports
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POST-COUP TURKEY:
ASSAULT ON EDUCATION
ASSAULT ON EDUCATION
State of Emergency, Torture,
and Impunity
In Turkey and Abroad
(Long-Version)
In Turkey and Abroad
(Short-Version)
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WOMEN’S RIGHTS
UNDER ATTACK IN TURKEY
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THE STATE OF TURKEY’S
CHILDREN:
Victims of Unlawfulness
Journalists and Writers Foundation